Into the Darkness
by libgalww
Summary: After an accident Bosco must face his fears with the help of his friends
1. Part One

Faith jogged quickly into the locker room. She was late; Fred was going on a weekend camping trip with  
  
Charlie's class at school and she had spent the morning trying to decide what they would need to take  
  
with them. Emily was going to be staying with her grandmother so that meant Faith would have the whole  
  
house to herself. She couldn't remember the last time that had happened and wondered if maybe she should tell Emily that she should stay home with her and they could do some mom and daughter things together on Sunday when she was off.  
  
As she pushed the door open, thinking about what to do about this weekend, the first thing she saw was her partner bouncing on his toes with a huge grin on his face. Faith groaned.  
  
"What is it Bosco?"  
  
He smile got even bigger as he took a step side ways and then resumed his bouncing. "Nothing, nothing. Can't a guy just be happy to see his partner?"  
  
She shook her head at him then glanced up at the clock. She had less than ten minutes before role call  
  
and Bosco was already here and dressed. Something was up with him.  
  
First, Bosco was never early--the man did not now the meaning of the word. Second, Faith knew that a beaming Bosco at the beginning of the shift could only mean that today was going to be unbearably long for her. She would be forced to listen to him chatter away about some insane thing while the whole time she would be silently resisting the urge to strangle him.  
  
She rolled her eyes then went over to her locker and opened it. She had come in half-dressed to save time,  
  
so now all she had to do was change her shirt and she would be ready.  
  
Sully and Ty were at their lockers when she sat down on the bench in front of hers. She looked up and  
  
caught Sully's twinkling eyes staring back at her.  
  
"You better get it over with now or you're going to be hearing about it all shift. He was a half-hour  
  
early today. I think he scared the crap out of the Lt. because he was so early," Sully whispered to her.  
  
Ty grinned and turned to Bosco.  
  
"So what's up Bosco?" Davis asked.  
  
Bosco's grin wavered as he looked from Ty to Faith, then back to Ty. Then he shrugged his shoulders  
  
slightly and cleared his throat.  
  
"Nothing really…Umm so did you see that great game last night?"  
  
Sully laughed and grinned at Faith. Ty looked at Bosco with a confused look, then he grinned at him.  
  
"No, I had a date," Ty answered. Bosco pursed his lips and nodded his head at Ty. He looked like he wasn't sure about what he should say next. He bent down quickly and busied himself with tying his already tied shoe. Sully and Ty exchanged looks, then stood there for a moment longer just looking at Bosco.  
  
Faith used the silence to pull her vest over her head and then pull her shirt on, and then she rummaged  
  
through her locker in search of her gloves.  
  
Faith could tell that whatever it was that Bosco was so hyped about, it was something that he wanted to be  
  
kept off the House's gossip grapevine. As Faith ran to the bathroom, she became more interested in her  
  
partner's odd behavior. Bosco was usually a loudmouth when it came to his lady of the week, so if this was something else and he didn't want everyone to know, the prospects of the coming shift where getting  
  
better. Maybe she wouldn't have to endure stories of his love life after all.  
  
When Faith stepped out of the stall, Sully and Ty were pulling on their jackets. Bosco was still fussing over the laces on his shoe. She couldn't help but laugh. He looked up, saw her, and froze.  
  
"You know Charlie could probably teach you how to do that lace thing if you need help."  
  
Faith bit back another laugh as she watched Bosco turn red and quickly pat the lace and stand up. Sully and Ty didn't feel the need to stop their laughter, however as they fled the locker room.  
  
"Thanks for that," he said as he frowned at her.  
  
"Hey, just one of the perks of the job."  
  
She pulled her jacket from her locker and slammed the door. When she turned back around, Bosco was standing in front of her bouncing up and down on his toes again. He was looking at her with this strange look on his face; if she didn't know him better she would say that he was trying to think of something to say.  
  
His nervous motion was driving her crazy; it reminded her of Charlie when he had too much sugar and he  
  
couldn't keep still. She reached toward him and put a hand on his shoulder to force him to stand still.  
  
"What do you need?"  
  
Bosco looked confused, "Huh?"  
  
Faith made a short up and down motion with her other hand then sighed.  
  
"Bosco, I know you want something, so just spill it."  
  
"Well…"  
  
Why was he doing this to her, why was her partner acting like he was four? She could tell that whatever  
  
he wanted to ask was just about killing him but he was playing dumb. She raised her hand off his shoulder and gave him a shove.  
  
"Spill or I'm outta here."  
  
"Okay, okay." Bosco took a step back, just out of range of her reach and then blew a breath out of his mouth. He looked away from her briefly. Then he focused his gaze a little to the left of her face so he could avoid her eyes.  
  
Oh god this is serious. Bosco is nervous. What is it?  
  
"Can I borrow Emily next weekend?" He mumbled.  
  
Faith looked into the serious face of her partner and burst out laughing. Bosco got red again. She noticed  
  
for the first time that even his ears turned a little pink and that just made Faith laugh harder. He had to  
  
be kidding, borrow her daughter. What did he think she was, a library book?  
  
But, Bosco wasn't laughing. In fact, he had retreated a little farther away from her and was again examining his shoe. He was serious. This thought made Faith clamp her mouth shut. Then her motherly  
  
protectiveness took control over her as she took a step toward him.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about Bosco?"  
  
Bosco stepped back a step like he was afraid she was about to deck him and he needed some space to make a run for it. He held up his hand for a second and waved in her direction. She could only assume this was supposed to calm her down. Faith took a deep breath; he coughed then looked at his shoe again.  
  
"Do you remember when I told you about Kristen?" He muttered quietly.  
  
Faith tried to associate the name with the many stories she had listened to about the women in Bosco's  
  
life. Kristen did sound familiar though. When she didn't answer right away, Bosco looked up at her.  
  
"Jeez, Faith, don't you pay attention to me-."  
  
Faith clenched her jaw and muttered, "Do you really want me to answer that Bosco?"  
  
Bosco cleared his throat and shook his head nervously. "No not really." He shuffled his feet and then started again. "Well, Kristen is the girl I met a while back when you forced me to go see about my cough remember?"  
  
Faith remembered Kristen now. She had been the nurse that had called him several times after he claimed he was fine.  
  
"See, Kristen and I have been seeing a lot of each other lately."  
  
Faith didn't remember him mentioning Kristen lately. Did she really tune him out when he wandered into some of his discussions about the women he was seeing?  
  
"You have?" She was a little curious to what his early request had to do with this woman.  
  
Bosco looked away from her. Okay that was weird, what was it with this one? Faith got the wild idea that  
  
maybe this woman was more than just his current lady of the week. Was her partner getting serious about  
  
a woman? This could get down right interesting.  
  
"Well yeah, whenever we can get together, we do. Last night we got a late dinner in and then..." Bosco  
  
stopped suddenly then rushed on quickly. "Anyway, she has a daughter that lives with her ex-husband in  
  
California."  
  
Daughter? Ex-husband? Didn't these terms usually make her partner turn and run in the other direction?  
  
"Well Charity, that's her daughter's name, is coming to visit next weekend and I thought maybe Emily could come with us to the zoo or something?"  
  
He said the sentence so fast that Faith just stared at him for a second to make sure she had actually heard  
  
him say what she thought she had heard him say. He wanted to take her daughter to the zoo, with him and  
  
some strange woman she had never met?  
  
"What?" Was all that she was able to sputter. She had never heard of anything so…crazy.  
  
"Umm…Charity...she is about Emily's age so I thought…"  
  
"Bosco, are you actually asking me to lend you my first born child so you can score points with some  
  
woman? Are you some kind of lunatic?" she yelled.  
  
Bosco retreated from her sudden outburst but she followed him across the room until she had him  
  
cornered near the door to the locker room. What in the world was going on his little head? Did he just think that she was going to turn over her daughter to him? The man that had on more than one occasion acted like a child himself?  
  
"That really isn't what I meant," he mumbled.  
  
"Well, that sure sounded like what you meant. So I'm going to give you thirty-seconds to explain what you did mean." She was staring at him and getting great pleasure watching him squirm under her glare.  
  
Before Bosco could answer her, Sully came through the door. He glanced around the room when he caught sight of them, Faith stepped back from Bosco but continued to glare at him. Bosco cleared his throat and tried unsuccessfully to put his 'screw you' face on. Faith could tell that Sully wasn't fazed at all by his display.  
  
"Don't let me interrupt, but you are both going to be late for roll call in about fifteen seconds," Sully  
  
said quickly with a huge grin on his face. Sully then stepped back out of the room and they could hear his  
  
booming laughter out in the hallway.  
  
"Great, this is all we need," Faith said.  
  
Bosco turned and grabbed the door. "See you in there," he told her as he turned and bolted from the room.  
  
"We aren't done, Boscorelli!" she shouted after him.  
  
****************************************  
  
Bosco rounded the corner of the roll call room and scanned for a seat by himself. He was not ashamed to  
  
admit to himself that he wanted to sit as far away from his partner as he possibly could. Faith on  
  
mother-protect mode was enough to scare anyone. He grabbed a seat near the front and tried to pay attention to Christopher as he went over last shift bulletins and warrants.  
  
Kristen hadn't really been that serious of a thing to Bosco when they had met. They had gone out to a  
  
concert and had a good time. Then she surprised him when she kept calling him back. Most of the woman he dated didn't bother calling back even if Bosco called them first but Kristen had just kept dogging him. At first, this had bugged the hell out of him. Then she had convinced him to give her a chance.  
  
Their dates were very casual and usually on the weekends so she could stay up and they could get  
  
together after his shift. Most of the time they went to a late dinner, sometimes a movie. Recently however  
  
Bosco had been trying to find more and more time for them to get together. He was really having a good time with her.  
  
When the Lieutenant took the podium, Bosco sat up a little straighter in his chair and forced himself to  
  
listen.  
  
"Okay, listen up. Two heads up I want to warn you about. First is a gang of teenagers that are still on  
  
the loose out there. They started a couple of days ago in the 23rd precinct. At first, it was simple things:  
  
reckless driving and yelling out obscenities at people in the neighborhoods. Since then they have progressed and have moved out into other precincts. They have dirt bikes now and were seen throwing rocks into store windows. Then they took bats to police cars. I just got off the phone with a sergeant in the 48 that reported that they were throwing fire crackers in the units last night. Since it seems they have turned from harassing the general public and turned their attention to us, I want everyone to keep a close eye out for these guys and haul them in before they get too out of control."  
  
Great a gang of wild teenagers on the loose, what were they--cops or babysitters?  
  
Bosco glanced back over his shoulder at Faith. She was looking at him with a strange expression on her face. Bosco quickly looked back toward the podium. He could still feel her eyes; they felt like they were boring holes into his head. He was starting to regret ever bringing up his idea with Emily.  
  
"Second, everyone knows that the 'Conference for a Better World' is meeting downtown. We have a request to send two units down to the Four Seasons where some of the European officials are staying. The FBI has received some reports that some of the protestors are going to turn violent when the meetings end tonight."  
  
"Please not us. Please not us," Bosco muttered under his breath.  
  
"55-Charlie and 55-David are the units that have been selected. Don't thank me and no you can't get out of  
  
it."  
  
Crap. The Lieutenant was looking directly at him. Bosco shook his head okay and tried to ignore the  
  
snickering from somewhere behind him.  
  
"Okay, everyone have a safe shift."  
  
Bosco watched Christopher and the Lieutenant leave the room, then he turned to look for Faith. She was  
  
Talking to Sully. Bosco made his way trough the chairs until he was standing behind Sully and looking at Faith. He was trying to tell if she was still mad. She looked okay, but he had learned in the past that sometimes Faith could hide her anger until she had a chance to fight back.  
  
"Christopher told me that we have to check in with an Agent Wilkerson at the Four Seasons. He said it was something about wanting beat cops out front to help persuade them to look somewhere else for trouble."  
  
"That doesn't make much sense, wouldn't FBI agents look more official than a couple of uniforms?" Ty  
  
asked.  
  
Sully and Faith both shrugged their shoulders. Faith looked up at Bosco and Sully turned to Bosco.  
  
"We'll meet you over there," he said, then grabbed Ty's arm and hustled him out of the room.  
  
"Faith, I wanted..." He wanted to explain. He didn't exactly know what he had done that was so terrible,  
  
but he needed to say something.  
  
"In the car," she said shortly, then turned and walked out of the room.  
  
This is going to be a very long day, Bosco thought to himself as he followed his partner out of the  
  
building.  
  
  
  
**********************  
  
Faith made it to the car first and pulled open the driver's door. If she was going to have to put up with  
  
him today, by God, she was going to do the driving.  
  
Bosco opened the passenger door and popped his head in for a second before sitting down. Faith started the car and turned toward the Four Seasons without even glancing at him.  
  
"Faith, say something."  
  
It almost came out as a whine and she realized that she really wasn't mad at him anymore, but was enjoying his display too much to tell him. She decided the best choice was to keep quiet and watch him try to dig himself out. Maybe she should have done this sooner for entertainment value alone.  
  
"Faith, look, I just thought that Charity didn't know anyone here and Emily is really nice and maybe they  
  
would get along. I haven't even said anything to Kristen yet, but if this freaks you out so much..."  
  
He stopped and she glanced at him. He was shaking his head and she could tell that he was at his limit.  
  
Faith had learned a long time ago that Bosco could only be pushed around for so long before he lost it,  
  
then he usually reverted to being a jerk and saying something that was just down right mean.  
  
Faith couldn't hold her curiosity about Kristen in any longer, so she decided it was time to let him off the  
  
hook.  
  
"It's okay, Bosco, you can come by tonight before Emily goes to her grandmother's and ask her if she wants to go."  
  
Bosco looked stricken. Children were definitely not his strong suit and he tended to get along better with  
  
Charlie than Emily anyway.  
  
"Bosco, you are going to have to talk to her if you want to take her anywhere. You do realize that two  
  
thirteen year old girls can be quite a handful right?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," he answered her, but the look on his face told her that he hadn't even thought about trying to  
  
control two pre-teens in a public place.  
  
"So Kristen..."  
  
He nodded but stayed quiet.  
  
"Hey, if I'm going to loan you my daughter, the least you can do is tell me all about the new woman you have in your life. So how on earth did you meet someone that isn't frightened at the thought of you freely  
  
meeting her child?" She was grinning at him now.  
  
He shifted in his seat then turned to look at her.  
  
"Why do you do that?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Ask me that like you think the only way it would be possible for some woman to take me seriously would only happen because I had her chained up in my bedroom and was forcing her to?"  
  
Faith burst out laughing. It took her several seconds and two turns to get herself under control.  
  
"Okay, Okay. I have been seeing Kristen a lot lately. She's great, so when she said her daughter was coming to town and she asked me to meet her I told her sure why not? She doesn't live here but if Kristen wants me to meet her that's fine with me. It's not like I'm signing up to be a step dad or anything so don't worry about it." Bosco shifted back around in his seat, letting Faith know that he was done talking.  
  
Faith looked over at her partner and decided that this was a subject that she definitely needed to drag more details out of him in the near future.  
  
They pulled up near the front of the Four Seasons as Faith was pondering a way to get her partner to fill  
  
her in about Kristen.  
  
"Let's go to work," Bosco said as he opened the car door and stepped out.  
  
Faith rolled her eyes at the back of his head and pulled open the door. She was suddenly hit with a  
  
feeling of dread as she looked up at the beautiful hotel in front of her. She shook it off and followed  
  
Bosco up the sidewalk to meet Sully and Davis at the steps of the front door.  
  
  
  
To Be Continued… 


	2. Part Two

Notes: Thanks to Angie for all of her support.  
  
Part Two  
  
Agent Wilkerson met them at the door. Maybe he was being nice, but Bosco thought it was more likely that he didn't want his agents that were stationed just inside the lobby to mingle with lowly beat cops like the four of them. Bosco hadn't had to deal with the FBI, but he had heard enough stories about their general distaste for local cops that the Agent already rubbed him the wrong way.  
  
"Officers, I'm Agent Kenny Wilkerson, thank-you for the help."  
  
Bosco, Davis and Faith just nodded as they let Sully do all the talking.  
  
"Agent Wilkerson, I'm John Sullivan, this is my partner Ty Davis." He pointed at Ty, who nodded at the agent before he went back to looking around him into the lobby of the hotel.  
  
"Faith Yokas and her partner Maurice Boscorelli." Sully ended the introductions with a smile.  
  
Bosco winced at Sully's use of his first name and then turned his attention to studying the FBI man in front of them. FBI, maybe if the ESU thing didn't work out he could look into the FBI--even with the attitude it seemed like a pretty easy gig.  
  
"Great, I asked for some help with the outside perimeter."  
  
Wilkerson paused and ushered them down the steps toward the sidewalk, then continued. Bosco couldn't help but notice that he directed most of his words at Sully.  
  
"We have a Serbian official attending the conference and we have been getting reports that some high placed people in an opposing party may have sent someone here to kill him. I guess they believe that it will be easier to do it here than in their own country. He is due back any minute so we need to concentrate on his safety.  
  
"We also seem to be having trouble with one of the more violent groups that has come to protest the conference and many of the world's representatives that are attending the conference. We are dividing our forces between the two threats. What we were hoping was that if we had uniforms out front, it would discourage the protestors away from the hotel and then we could concentrate on keeping the official safe when he arrives."  
  
Great, they were to be dummies in uniforms scaring away people that the FBI was probably overreacting to anyway. Bosco rethought his FBI career and decided that he would rather stay put then get mixed up with these jokers.  
  
"It seems you already have your work cut out for you," Wilkerson said with a smile and pointed up the street where a group of teenagers were piling out of an old van.  
  
Bosco glanced over his shoulder at the teenagers while Agent Wilkerson turned to go back into the hotel. Bosco nodded to Faith and they both turned to look at the odd assortment of girls and boys.  
  
"Why didn't he just tell us the truth, that the FBI was too busy to be babysitters?" he muttered to her.  
  
"They sure don't seem like much of a threat, do they?" Sully said as he came to stand next to Faith.  
  
"I can tell you have never been around a teenager," Faith said with a small chuckle.  
  
Sully leaned back and looked her up and down for a second, then grinned. Oh no, Bosco thought. This didn't look like it was going to be good.  
  
"Faith, did I just hear you volunteer to go over there and head off those evil creatures?"  
  
Bosco was shaking his head even as he heard Faith accept Sully's challenge and start walking in the direction of the van.  
  
"No, no, Faith, what are you doing?" he asked her as he jogged after her.  
  
"Come on, Bosco, at least we aren't out harassing drunks."  
  
"I like harassing drunks, Faith; I'm good at it."  
  
"I know you are, Bosco, and I'm sure we will be back doing what you love very soon."  
  
Bosco huffed, and tried to ignore the fact that he thought he heard her chuckle. Oh you are going to pay for this, Yokas, he thought as he turned his attention to the group of teenagers before them.  
  
******************  
  
She stopped a few feet away from the small crowd that had gathered around the van. The group was too busy pulling signs and talking loudly to even notice them walk up.  
  
"Okay, what do we have here?"  
  
The group turned to look at them. About half of the group looked a little afraid of their sudden appearance. A couple of the kids looked openly hostile and challenging; the others seemed not to care one way or the other. A twenty something blond-haired man and a younger red-haired girl stepped from the group to meet them.  
  
"We don't want any trouble," the blonde said quickly.  
  
Faith smiled at him. "Good, neither do we. What's going on then?"  
  
"We just came to protest the people that are attending the Conference for a Better World."  
  
"Why would you want to protest a better world?" Faith asked.  
  
The girl laughed. "We don't want to protest a better world, we just want to call attention to the fact that some of the policies these countries are proposing are not worth the damage they are doing to our environment."  
  
"Tree-huggers, great," Bosco muttered beside her.  
  
Faith elbowed him, then smiled at the two young people in front of her.  
  
"Well, I need to see a permit if you are going to do any protesting. And you do realize that the hotel is private property so you will have to maintain a clearing so as not to block any guests."  
  
"Yeah. We know, like I said we don't want any trouble. I have a permit, let me find it."  
  
The Blonde turned and walked back toward the van. The red head stayed.  
  
"I'm Mary, nice to meet you," she said to Faith.  
  
The girl's friendly manner surprised Faith for a second. "Ugh… Officer Faith Yokas"  
  
"Steve is right. We aren't looking for any trouble we just came because a lot of us feel so strongly about this. If the countries continue to allow the big businesses to do anything they want to do, there won't be much of a world left for anyone. They need to start cracking down on some of these company's practices."  
  
Bosco groaned. Mary looked at him with a pleading look. "Aren't you concerned that the world we leave will not be fit for our children?"  
  
Bosco grinned at her. "I don't have any kids, so what do I care?"  
  
Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Faith sighed and silently cursed her partner for being such an idiot. She held up her hand to Mary, then grabbed Bosco by his arm and turned him around.  
  
"Get outta of here, Boz, now," she hissed at him. "Go check the parking garage or something."  
  
Bosco studied her face for a second then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?" he told her as he turned toward the garage.  
  
Steve came back with a handful of papers and a concerned look on his face. He shuffled through the stack of papers then looked up  
  
"I was sure I had it."  
  
Faith sighed and motioned Mary and Steve to follow her.  
  
"Let's sort this out over here."  
  
As she lead the two toward her unit, she tried to block out Mary's efforts to convince her that it was her duty to help clean up the water so everyone would be able to enjoy clean water in the years to come.  
  
***************************  
  
Bosco had wandered through the parking garage. The FBI agents were guarding the elevator and they gave him openly hostile looks as he walked past them. He decided to check out the back so he squeezed through a locked gate and was now walking down the hotel's back alley.  
  
The place was covered with junk, dumpsters lined the wall and the ground was littered with the remains of cardboard boxes. Maybe the Four Seasons was too 'nice' to keep all their trash inside like normal places. As Bosco reached the end of the alley, he heard a bottle fall and break just behind him.  
  
He turned and saw a tall man standing close to the wall, partly hidden by shadows. Bosco had missed him when he went by. How could he have missed him?  
  
"Police, step out of there."  
  
Bosco raised one hand and motioned the man to step closer while at the same time he lowered his hand so it would be near his weapon, just in case.  
  
The man stepped out of the shadows and stopped a few feet from Bosco. The man was tall with salt and pepper hair. He didn't look like a bum--in fact he was rather well dressed.  
  
"What were you doing there? Step out of there, let me see some ID."  
  
The man smiled at him then held up a hand that had a cigarette clutched in his fingers.  
  
"Sorry, forgive me. I'm not allowed to smoke inside," the man said in some kind of European accent that Bosco knew but couldn't place.  
  
Something about the man was making Bosco edgy. He didn't have a clue why so he decided to just send him on his way, then go back around front, and see how Faith was making out with the kids.  
  
"I'm sure they have someplace closer to the hotel that you could smoke that."  
  
"But you see, officer, my wife wouldn't like that very much, that is why I come out here and hide in the dark."  
  
Bosco nodded, then took a step closer to the guy. The man had made no effort to show him any kind of ID.  
  
"Well, why don't you try the park right across the street? I need you to clear this area. Now let me see some ID and your hotel key to verify that you're a guest here."  
  
The man smiled again but Bosco thought it looked more forced than before. He flicked the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it. The actions were stiff and Bosco could tell that he was mad.  
  
"Whatever you say, Officer."  
  
Bosco glanced around the alley. Shouldn't there be an FBI agent around here? What kind of protection were they running?  
  
As the man reached into his coat pocket, a weird shiver went up Bosco's spine. Something was definitely wrong with this whole situation. Bosco decided that maybe he should at least call Sully or Davis around.  
  
Just as he was reaching for his radio, it squawked to life.  
  
"Bosco, get back here now. I need your help—those teenagers on bikes just showed up. Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!"  
  
Bosco glanced at the man in the alley one last time then turned and ran for the front of the hotel and his partner.  
  
Bosco made it to the front of the hotel and watched Faith shove Mary into the squad as about five boys on bikes sped by. Each had a baseball bat or a pipe and they were taking turns hitting the squad as they drove past. Where in the hell was the FBI?  
  
Bosco ran forward. He had no clue what to do; it wasn't like he could draw his gun and shoot them all. As he got closer to the car, he saw Davis and Sully down behind their squad out of the way. Bosco was about to yell something at them when he noticed Davis was applying pressure to Sully's bleeding head. What had happened?  
  
"Bosco, behind you!" Davis shouted.  
  
Bosco spun around just as a kid zoomed by him. Bosco could feel the faint breeze of the bat that swung where his head had been just two seconds before. When he stood up, he saw something that terrified him. At the end of the block one of the kids had fashioned a bottle with a rag hanging from the opening. Bosco watched them light it and make a run towards the car and Faith.  
  
Bosco took off running towards the car. He made it to the car and quickly glanced over at the kid racing full speed at them. He tried the handle; the door was locked. He banged on the window at Faith.  
  
"Faith, get out."  
  
She shook her head and pointed at the terrified girl that was clinging to her. Bosco pulled on the handle again.  
  
"OPEN IT NOW!"  
  
Faith reached over and pulled up the lock. Bosco flung the door open, reached in, grabbed her, and yanked her out as fast as he could. Faith must have seen the kid because he heard her gasp.  
  
Bosco reached in to grab Mary, but the frightened girl shrank away from him and tried to crawl back across the seat toward the passenger side of the car. Bosco cursed and went in after her.  
  
"Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!" he heard Faith yell.  
  
The next thing he heard was the sound of glass breaking and Mary screaming. Suddenly there were flames in the floor of the car. He grabbed Mary and shoved her toward the other door. He felt the flames getting close.  
  
"OPEN THE DOOR!" he shouted at her.  
  
Mary just screamed. Bosco pushed her toward the door and then he reached around her to unlock the door and pull the handle. The intense heat was burning his hands as he pushed the door open and shoved Mary out of the door. Faith was there to grab her. Bosco heard her yell something about an explosion.  
  
He looked back at the floor of their unit and then backed himself across the seat, trying to pull himself out of the car before the bottle exploded. Just as he was getting his feet clear of the car, he felt his belt and catch on the steering wheel.  
  
The last thing Bosco saw was Faith yelling at him. Then a bright explosion filled his world and sudden darkness overtook him. 


	3. Part Three

Part Three  
  
Faith had just enough time to push Mary around to the other side of the car before the force of the blast  
  
sent her tumbling backwards. She hit the ground hard. On the way down she had pulled Mary with her. The young girl landed on her chest and Faith groaned as her air rushed from her lungs. She lay there and  
  
listened to the comforting sounds of sirens for a few seconds before she realized that what she was hearing was the hysterical screams of Mary.  
  
Faith struggled to sit up, but Mary clamped her arms around her neck and refused to let go. Faith patted  
  
the girl and muttered softly to her. She slowly looked around, searching for Bosco. She expected to see him standing over her with a concerned look on his face asking if she was okay. Then what had just happened rushed back to her and she felt the first waves of panic flood through her body.  
  
Where was he?  
  
She turned to look at the burning car a few feet away. The earth dropped out from beneath her when she saw his crumbled body lying beside the burning squad car.  
  
Faith pushed Mary away for the moment, not caring about the terrified teenager. The only thing that was  
  
important to her at that second was Bosco. She struggled to her feet and stumbled on shaking legs the  
  
few feet to her partner. Her knees buckled and she fell to his side. Somewhere in her mind, she heard  
  
reason screaming at her to not move him. But she could feel the heat coming from the burning car and she knew that she had to get him away from it before the whole thing blew.  
  
She grabbed his shoulder, but quickly jerked her hand back from his hot jacket. She gritted her teeth then  
  
forced herself to roll her partner over so she would be able to grab him under his arms and pull him from  
  
the car. His arm was pulled up in front of his face so when she rolled him over it fell to the sidewalk  
  
beside him. Faith saw an ugly red blotch running up the left side of Bosco's cheek towards his hairline.  
  
She forced herself to look away from him and tried to focus on her efforts to pull him away from the car.  
  
She grabbed his arms and tried to pull him. She was able to move him a few feet but her legs felt like  
  
they were going to collapse under her. Then someone was beside her, taking Bosco's right arm. Faith  
  
glanced up and saw Ty. Between the two of them, they were able to pull Bosco to a safe distance near the  
  
front of the hotel. Faith collapsed on the ground beside Bosco.  
  
"Please be okay," she silently pleaded.  
  
She reached for his neck, feeling for a pulse, and was immediately comforted by the steady beat she felt  
  
under her fingers. Ty leaned down over his face and then smiled up at her. He was breathing.  
  
"Bosco, Bosco!" He didn't answer her.  
  
She looked down at his uniform jacket and could still see smoke rising from the fabric. She unbuttoned it  
  
and flung it open and away from him. Ty placed his hands on hers and gently pulled her until she was  
  
facing him.  
  
"Faith, wait until the bus comes," he said softly.  
  
Faith nodded at him and then turned back to her partner. She could hear the wail of sirens. Faith  
  
reached down, grasped Bosco's right hand, and squeezed. He was alive that was all that mattered. She  
  
hadn't lost him.  
  
The ambulance arrived first with the fire truck pulling up next to it a second later. Faith saw  
  
several firemen race to the car, then she saw Doc getting out of the bus. Suddenly there was shouting  
  
and she heard the fireman yelling that the car was going to blow. Faith had no time to think; she  
  
automatically threw herself over Bosco and buried her face in his chest. The second explosion was larger and louder than the first. Faith could feel the heat radiate around her and she squeezed her eyes shut and  
  
clung to Bosco.  
  
Then she felt hands on her shoulder gently pulling her up. She looked up into Doc's concerned eyes.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Some kids made a home-made bomb and threw it in the squad. I was inside with a girl…" Faith trailed off as she looked up and briefly wondered where Mary was.  
  
"Faith?"  
  
Faith forced her attention back to Doc.  
  
"He pulled me out, then the girl, I don't know, she got scared and pulled away from him. He went in after  
  
her and pushed her out the passenger door. But he didn't have enough time to get all the way out before  
  
it blew."  
  
Faith looked down at her partner as Doc checked his vitals.  
  
"Doc, where's Carlos?"  
  
Faith looked up and saw Ty leading Sully toward them. Sully was holding something to the side of his head. Doc didn't look up at either of them because he was carefully examining the side of Bosco's face.  
  
"Carlos!" Doc shouted suddenly.  
  
Carlos came stumbling over a few seconds later.  
  
"Man, do you see this? What the hell happened?" he asked as he set his box down and went to look at  
  
Sully's head.  
  
"That's what I would like to know. How can I protect a important official when things like this are happening right in front of the hotel?" Faith jerked her head toward the unfamiliar voice and recognized Agent Wilkerson staring at the burning car.  
  
How dare he? Faith felt a hand on her shoulder, but that didn't stop the anger that welled up in her as  
  
she stared at the agent who was searching through the crowd of firemen and newly arrived police officers.  
  
Faith pushed herself to her feet so she was standing a few inches from the agent who seemed to finally  
  
realize who she was. He tried to give her a fake apologetic smile, but she stood her ground. Where was  
  
he five minutes ago before everything went wrong? Bosco had risked his life to save them, to save her.  
  
"Where were you?" she demanded.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Where were you when those hoodlums were throwing crap at us? Where were you when they starting breaking the windows on our squads with bats?"  
  
Agent Wilkerson didn't say anything. He looked over her shoulder at Ty and Sully, who were behind her.  
  
Anger rushed through her. She knew it wasn't rational to be so angry with him, but the kids who had done  
  
this weren't here so she decided that the agent standing before her would do. He hadn't even tried to  
  
help them. Before anyone could stop her, she flung herself at him. She grabbed his jacket and forced him  
  
back into the wall of the hotel. He looked at her with surprise and opened his mouth to say something to her. She just shoved him into the wall again.  
  
"Where the hell were you? My partner just risked his life. Why didn't you help?" she yelled at him.  
  
"Faith, calm down," Sully said quietly.  
  
He was by her side. He pulled her from the agent and steered her away from the stunned man. Sully wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tried to calm her down. She looked up at him and tried to smile.  
  
She tried to tell him she was going to be okay. But, how could she tell him that when she felt like the  
  
world had just turned upside down and dumped her on her ass?  
  
When she looked up, she saw Mary standing in front of them. The girl looked stunned and tear marks were running down her smoke-covered face. Faith's anger drained from her and she stepped toward Mary and pulled the girl into her arms. Mary began to cry in Faith's arms.  
  
Faith turned the girl slightly until she could see Doc opening bandages and applying them to Bosco's face. Faith patted Mary on the back as she looked up at their smoking squad car and squeezed her eyes shut tightly trying to shut out the activity around her.  
  
"Faith?"  
  
Doc was calling her. Faith opened her eyes and jumped slightly because Doc was standing in front of her,  
  
looking at her intently. He motioned toward Carlos who was heading their way with a stretcher.  
  
"Why don't you ride with us? We need to get you checked out, too."  
  
Faith nodded as she watched Carlos stop the stretcher next to Bosco. She watched as Doc and Carlos carefully lifted him up onto the stretcher. Carlos pushed him toward the waiting bus. The fireman and cops jumped aside for them to pass.  
  
Doc grabbed the last of his gear, then took Faith by the arm, and gently pulled her with him. As she passed each of the emergency workers, she felt their eyes on her. Faith felt a gentle tug on the back of her  
  
uniform and then heard Mary's small voice.  
  
"Officer Yokas, can I please come with you?" she asked between sniffs.  
  
Faith nodded yes and then pulled Mary along with her. The three of them made it to the bus and Doc looked at the girl, then at Faith and then jumped into the bus beside Bosco and waited for Faith and Mary to climb in after him. She sat them both down on the small ledge near the door. She wanted to get closer, but she knew that the best thing for Bosco right now was for her and Mary to stay out of Doc's way. Faith listened to him shout things to Carlos as he carefully cut Bosco's uniform jacket off and got an IV going.  
  
  
  
***********************  
  
The first thing Bosco became aware of was the smell of smoke. The smell pulled him from his safe, comfortable world toward consciousness. The second sensation was pain. He didn't understand what was going on but his whole body ached and his face felt hot and throbbed painfully. He groaned.  
  
He heard sirens and strange voices somewhere in the distance. Bosco felt pressure on his face and arms and he struggled to get away from it. He had to find someone; he had to make sure that someone was okay. He couldn't remember who he had to find, he just knew he needed to find someone.  
  
Then he felt the soft pressure of someone holding his hand. He heard soft words in his ear and knew that he was safe. Everything was going to be okay. He gave himself up to the pain and then drifted back into the darkness, trying to hold onto the calm voice and the reassuring pressure.  
  
**************************  
  
Faith was still next to Mary when she saw Bosco move. Doc called to her.  
  
"Faith, come here."  
  
She stumbled from her place on the low seat toward Doc.  
  
"Listen to me. He's in pain and he's only half conscious, talk to him." He smiled reassuringly at her.  
  
She took Bosco's hand and squeezed it. She bent down over him and began to talk to him. She tried to keep her voice soft and reassuring but she could hear her voice catching and she prayed that she didn't lose it.  
  
"Bosco? Can you hear me? Listen to me, you have to hang in there okay? I expect you to be back bugging  
  
the crap out of me in no time. You can't get rid of me this easily. You know, I think Emily would love to go to the zoo with you. I think you will have a great time. "  
  
As she was talking, she watched his face. He had a strained painful appearance. His body was tense and he looked like he was trying to fight Doc's attempts to wrap his left arm and hand in the same bandages that were laying across one side of his face. His face slowly relaxed. Faith continued to mumble soft words to Bosco. She didn't know what she was saying and she really didn't care--she just continued to speak softly to him as she squeezed his hand, hoping that she was bringing some comfort to him.  
  
Carlos brought the bus to a sudden stop in front of Mercy's ER doors. Faith reluctantly let go of Bosco's  
  
hand and made it to the back doors just as Carlos was opening them from the outside. Faith jumped down and helped Mary down beside her. They watched Doc and Carlos unload the stretcher and jog toward the open doors of the ER. Faith put an arm around Mary and they both walked inside.  
  
By the time the doctor had finished examining Faith, and let her escape the treatment room, the waiting  
  
room was full of uniforms; some of them spilled over into the hallway and were leaning on the front desk.  
  
Faith saw not only cops but fireman and paramedics from the 55, as well. Faith walked slowly down the  
  
hall, trying to pick out someone that would tell her where Bosco was. As she passed, each of her fellow  
  
officers and the firemen nodded her way or smiled at her.  
  
Faith spotted Ty talking to Lieutenant Stick and Sergeant Christopher near one of the exam rooms. She  
  
stepped up behind the three men and ran her hands across the back of her head and the newly formed bump. She had been surprised when the doctor had asked her if her head hurt. He told her that she had an ugly knot forming on the back of her head and he had given her something in case it began to bother her.  
  
Ty was the first to notice her presence.  
  
"Faith, how you feel?"  
  
She shrugged her shoulders and then glanced down the hall of exam rooms.  
  
"Where's Bosco?"  
  
Ty gestured to one of the rooms farther down the hall. Faith was just about to step away from them and look for Bosco when she felt a hand on her arm. Faith turned to see the Lieutenant looking intently at her.  
  
"Faith, I need to hear from you what happened."  
  
Faith glanced up at Ty who shrugged his shoulders. Ty had probably told them the whole story, but she knew that in the case of an officer getting injured they needed all the information they could get.  
  
"It's okay, Faith, the docs are still working on him. Come sit down over here and tell me what you saw."  
  
Faith sighed, knowing that she had no choice. She followed him over to some chairs and sank into one  
  
next to him.  
  
"You want anything? Something to drink?"  
  
Faith shook her head; she just wanted this to be over. Stick nodded at her and Christopher opened his book and prepared to write down what she said. Faith started her story off slow but when she began, she  
  
couldn't stop the words that spilled from her mouth.  
  
"We met Agent Wilkerson in front of the hotel, Sully, Ty, Bosco and me. He told us that he wanted us to  
  
stand outside and discourage protestors from blocking the front of the hotel. His only concern was some  
  
official that they were assigned to protect. Soon after that, a van full of teenage protestors showed up. Bosco and I went over to talk with them. While I talked to two of them, Mary and Steve, Bosco went to  
  
check out the parking garage."  
  
Faith paused when she saw Sully walk up to them. He had a bandage wrapped around the top of his head and he looked like he was wincing slightly.  
  
"Sully, are you okay?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, my head's hard."  
  
Ty snickered and muttered something under his breath. Faith could probably guess what it was.  
  
"Didn't they want you to stay?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
She knew that he had refused. Faith shook her head at his stubbornness then tried to remember where she had left off with her story.  
  
"While I was trying to get their paperwork figured out, I heard the first motorcycle. The first couple  
  
times they just rode by us and threw a couple of rocks. I think that's what hit you didn't it, Sully?"  
  
Sully nodded his head carefully, then sat down in the chair next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and  
  
she took a breath and continued. Her voice seemed strange to her but she forced herself to continue,  
  
hoping to finish this and find Bosco.  
  
"Then they came back by again, swinging bats at us. I radioed for Bosco. Steve--one of the protestors—ran, but Mary, the girl, she just panicked. I couldn't leave her, so I found the only place I thought would  
  
be safe. I opened the door to the squad and we climbed in. That's when I heard Bosco yell at me to get out of the car. But I couldn't move. Mary had me pinned in the seat. He yelled at me to unlock the door and when I did, he pulled me out and tried to pull her out but she pushed away from him."  
  
Faith stopped as the images rushed back to her. She remembered the look on his face when he yelled at her to open the door. He was worried about her—no, he was scared for her. He had risked his life to save her. She could feel tears threaten to fall, but she forced them away. She would not sit here in the middle of all these men and cry like a little girl.  
  
Sully squeezed her shoulder then cleared his throat. "After Bosco went into the squad after the girl, Faith  
  
ran around to the passenger side and Bosco pushed the girl out of the other side. Faith turned and pushed  
  
the girl toward the sidewalk. He tried to back out the way he came in but he didn't make it. The bottle blew; I saw Faith and the girl fly backwards. Ty and I ducked behind our squad and when I looked up again, Faith was trying to pull Bosco from beside the car."  
  
"I think that's enough for now, Faith, why don't you go find Bosco?" Stick suggested.  
  
Faith nodded, then got up and walked down the hall toward the room Ty had pointed to. She stopped at the curtain of the room and looked in at the still form of her partner in the bed. She stepped forward and was almost to the side of his bed before she realized that she wasn't the only one in the room.  
  
A graying doctor was leaning against a counter on one side of the room, writing furiously in a notepad.  
  
Faith cleared her throat and watched the older man jump and then turn to look at her. He smiled at her  
  
kindly and took a step toward her holding his hand out for her to take.  
  
"I'm Doctor Zimmerman."  
  
Faith shook his hand and was immediately at ease with him. She smiled back and glanced sideways at Bosco. "I'm Faith Yokas. Bosco's …uh Maurice is my partner."  
  
He smiled at her again, and then nodded toward Bosco. They stepped over to Bosco's bed and looked down at him. Bosco's left arm was bandaged from just above his elbow to his fingers. Each of his fingers was bandaged separately and the whole arm was resting on a pillow.  
  
"Bosco, you say?" he asked her. Faith nodded. "Well, Bosco is one lucky man. He could have been severely burned but it seems that he escaped his ordeal with first and second-degree burns on his left hand and lower arm. What worries me are the burns on his face."  
  
Faith looked down at Bosco's face. The entire left side of it was wrapped with bandages. There were also  
  
bandages wrapped securely around his head, covering both of his eyes. She turned away from him toward  
  
Zimmerman.  
  
"Is he going to be okay? Please you have to tell me," she pleaded.  
  
"Officer Yokas, your partner …"  
  
"Faith," she whispered to him quietly.  
  
"Faith, your partner received some second degree burns to the side of his face, but what concerns me is that somehow his corneas were burned also. It's very rare; usually a person will automatically close their eyes to protect them from this type of burn. A chemical burn is different, sometimes the eyes don't realize  
  
that something is about to splash in a person's eyes but a burn from a fire, I just don't know what to say."  
  
Faith turned back to Bosco. He was worried about his sight. She felt her legs begin to tremble. Not Bosco.  
  
Oh please not Bosco. She looked down; he looked lost and pale in the white bandages. She tried to breathe deeply, tried to calm the rising fear in her chest.  
  
"His face is starting to swell at the locations of the worst burns, which, luckily are small. We are going to  
  
keep pressure bandages on his eyes. We have treated them with drops and given him something for the pain. All we can do now is wait and see if they improve on their own."  
  
Faith reached toward Bosco's right hand and took it. She held it tightly, trying to gather her courage to  
  
ask the question she knew she didn't want to hear the answer to.  
  
"What happens if it doesn't improve? Will he lose his sight?"  
  
The doctor reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. She looked up at his face. He was no longer  
  
smiling, but frowning slightly.  
  
"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. So, why don't we just take this one-day at a time?"  
  
"He saved my life," she mumbled. Zimmerman sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling. Faith turned back to Bosco. They were both silent for a few minutes. Then he patted her hand.  
  
"The pain medication I gave him will pretty much get him through the night, but why don't you stay with him until we get him a room? I think it would help him to feel you near."  
  
Faith smiled and nodded at the doctor, who patted her hand one last time before he turned and walked from the room. Faith drew in a quivering breath. She was able to pull a stool up to the side of the bed without having to let go of Bosco's hand. She lowered herself onto the chair, glanced at the numerous wires, and tubes leading to different places in Bosco's body. Then she returned her gaze to his heavily bandaged face.  
  
"Oh Bosco…"  
  
She felt the tears begin to flow down her face. She didn't try to stop them. They slid silently as she  
  
gazed at her best friend and prayed that he would not have to face the rest of his life in darkness. 


	4. Part Four

Part Four  
  
Bosco slowly became aware of the sounds around him. In the distance, he could hear people talking and someone laughing. Closer, very near he recognized the sound of someone breathing. He tried to open his eyes but found he couldn't. He was surrounded by darkness.  
  
Where was he? Who was there?  
  
He fought the panic rising in his chest as he tried to move his hand to his face. But, he couldn't move it;  
  
something was holding it in place at his side. He gave into the panic, pulled his hand free, and raised it to  
  
his face. His fingers felt the roughness that was covering his face; he frantically ripped at the fabric  
  
covering his face.  
  
"Boz…hey Boz it's okay."  
  
He stopped when he heard the familiar voice. He hoped that the voice he was hearing really was Faith and not some trick the fear and rising panic was playing on him. Then a hand gently pulled his hand from his face.  
  
"Faith?" he whispered softly.  
  
"Yes, It's me. Calm down. Okay?"  
  
Bosco nodded slowly and fought to control his fear. He didn't want Faith to know how close he had come to losing it. He had made the mistake of panicking in front of Carlos once. Afterwards he had told himself  
  
that he would never do it again, especially in front of Faith. He didn't want Faith to worry about him--or  
  
worse--think he was being foolish.  
  
"Faith, what happened? Why are my eyes…" He didn't know how to continue. He vaguely remembered Faith yelling at him then nothing. What had happened?  
  
Faith squeezed his hand and he heard her sigh. She continued to hold onto his hand, her thumb making  
  
small circles on the back of it. She can't tell me, I told her she could tell me anything. The fear returned but this time it formed a small ball in his stomach.  
  
"Bosco, you were in accident."  
  
"No shit," Bosco clamped his mouth closed. He hadn't meant to say that out- loud.  
  
"Bosco," she said lightly. He could tell that she was smiling. "I'll go get your doctor, he's really nice he  
  
can tell you--"  
  
He turned his hand in hers until he was able to grab her fingers with his own. He had to know what she was afraid to tell him. He needed her to tell him not some stranger.  
  
"Faith, please tell me," he pleaded.  
  
He heard her take a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Do you remember the kids, the ones on bikes?"  
  
He didn't remember any kids, but he nodded his head anyway, he wanted her to finish. He had to know what was going on.  
  
"Well, they made some kind of homemade bomb. I was in the squad with a girl, Mary." Faith paused, cleared her throat then continued quickly. "They were going to throw it into the car with us but you came and pulled us out but it blew before you could get out."  
  
She was silent. It blew up? Why couldn't he remember?  
  
"Faith?" he pleaded.  
  
"Ugh, the doctor says you have first and second degree burns on your left hand and arm."  
  
His arm, what was wrong with his arm? He tried to bend it but it felt heavy and stiff. He pushed that  
  
out of his mind for the time being. He had known Faith too long. She was stalling.  
  
"Dammit, Faith, tell me." He needed to know, didn't she understand that?  
  
"You have burns on your face, too. But what the doctor is concerned about is that your corneas  
  
were burned. He said that we are going to have to wait and see if they get better on their own.  
  
But, Bosco, I'm sure he is just talking worst case, I'm sure they will be fine in no time."  
  
Bosco let go of Faith's hand and pulled it away from her. He tried to tell himself that she was lying. But,  
  
it was Faith; she wouldn't lie to him about something like this. He felt his body going numb; he didn't know what to think. What was he going to do now? Then another feeling took over, dread. How could he face the darkness around him all the time?  
  
"Bosco, listen, it's going to be okay. Do you hear me?"  
  
"How do you know?" he asked softly.  
  
Bosco felt her grasp his hand again and squeeze it.  
  
"I just know." Faith pulled his hand toward her and closed his hand in both of hers. They sat there not  
  
moving for a long time, each silently praying that she was right.  
  
Bosco was too lost in his thoughts to hear the door open so when he heard someone clear their throat he jumped. He felt Faith's hand tighten around his.  
  
"Hello, there, Mr. Boscorelli. My name's Doctor Zimmerman I treated you last night. How do you feel?  
  
Any pain?"  
  
Bosco shook his head. "No, I'm okay."  
  
He heard Faith snort and Zimmerman chuckle. Well, at least I'm entertaining, Bosco thought.  
  
"Your lovely partner has done an excellent job with the basics. Now do you have any questions for me?"  
  
"What happens now? How long before I can see again?"  
  
"Well, that's a difficult question to answer. You managed to burn your corneas. I'm sorry to say that  
  
with this kind of injury we really don't have much of a standard treatment and recovery schedule to follow. Right now, your face is swollen, so we are going to have to wait until that goes down. We are going to be administering eye-drops in each eye four times a day. The pressure bandages will stay on. This will help with the swelling but might also increase your pain and discomfort. But we need to be careful with infections."  
  
Zimmerman stopped talking. Bosco felt his hand squeeze his shoulder.  
  
"I know this is very difficult but it is very important that you stay calm and don't upset yourself.  
  
It's going to take a day or two before we are able to tell you anything."  
  
Stay calm. Come on, Doc, how is that possible? Bosco felt like shouting at him. Instead, he nodded his head and tried to make the doctor think he was okay. That had always worked in the past, so why not now? He just had to convince everyone he was fine, then they would all just go away and then he could figure out how to deal with this.  
  
"So now that you are awake, I'm going to give you a once over, then I'll disconnect you from all this  
  
stuff. After that we are going to take you down and get a Cat Scan done of your head just to make sure  
  
that there wasn't any damage done to your brain. When that's done I'm sure you will be ready for a pain pill and a nap."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Faith squeezed his hand again. "You be good. I'll be back when you're done."  
  
Bosco waved in the direction of her voice. Then he tuned out the doctor as he went about poking and  
  
pressing his arm and fingers. The only thought that was pressing in on him was. `Why me?'  
  
*****************************  
  
  
  
Faith stepped out of the room and pulled the door closed behind her. She shut her eyes and leaned back  
  
onto the door. She tried to get control of herself; she refused to break down in front of Bosco but that  
  
didn't mean she wanted to in the middle of a hospital hallway, either. This was all her fault; if she hadn't  
  
been stupid and crawled into the car, Bosco would never had to pull her out of it.  
  
"Hey, stranger."  
  
The voice startled her and she opened her eyes to see Fred standing in front of her.  
  
"Fred?"  
  
He shrugged and awkwardly lifted the small NYPD gym bag.  
  
"After you called me last night, I figured you wouldn't be coming home. So, I packed a bag for you." When she didn't say anything, he shrugged again, then cleared his throat. "They had your picture on the news."  
  
"I'm sorry. I was going to..." Faith was lost for words.  
  
She had forgotten about that short phone call Sully had insisted she make sometime last night when they  
  
were moving Bosco to a new room. She had told Fred what had happened and that she didn't know when she would be home but not to worry about her. After she convinced the nurses to let her stay with Bosco, the rest of her night had been filled with endless thoughts about what would happen if Bosco never got  
  
his sight back and then praying for that to never happen.  
  
Faith let out a long breath and tried to keep her face from betraying her feelings. Fred gave her a sad smile  
  
and then dropped the bag and stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.  
  
Faith buried herself in his chest and gripped him tightly.  
  
"Hey, it's okay," Fred whispered into her ear as he stroked her hair.  
  
Faith let the tears slid down her cheeks as they swayed slowly back and forth. They stood that way for  
  
several minutes then Faith slowly released him and looked up at him.  
  
"Thank-you," she whispered.  
  
He wiped the tears from her face and smiled back at her.  
  
"You hungry?" he asked.  
  
She nodded and they both turned and headed toward the cafeteria. After they finished breakfast, Fred kissed her and left for work.  
  
Bosco wasn't back in his room so she wandered into the waiting room and sat down in an ugly green chair. The room was quiet; all the cops and fireman from the night before had left.  
  
She opened the bag Fred had given her; and was digging through it looking for the toothbrush he had promised was there, when she heard someone clear their throat.  
  
She looked up and saw Agent Wilkerson standing in the doorway holding a paper coffee cup. Embarrassment flooded through her when she thought about what she had done to the man the last time she saw him.  
  
"How's your partner?"  
  
"He could be better. They don't know if his eyes are going to heal or not."  
  
Agent Wilkerson nodded and looked down at his coffee. "I wanted to say I was sorry about what happened to him."  
  
Why was he apologizing to her? She was the one that had thrown him into a wall. She didn't know what to say. He looked sad, but surely he wasn't that upset about Bosco.  
  
"Thank-you, I'm sorry for what I did yesterday. I don't know what I was thinking."  
  
He made a motion with his free hand at her. "It's okay; you were upset."  
  
Faith nodded then smiled. "Yeah, but I don't usually go around assaulting people either. I usually leave  
  
that up to Bosco."  
  
She stopped when she realized what she had said, her thoughts returning to her partner. He nodded again andlooked away from her toward the far wall. He didn't make any effort to leave, he just took a sip of his  
  
coffee. Faith recognized the lost in thought expression on his face.  
  
"Is everything all right?"  
  
He shook his head once then looked back at her, he looked like he was trying to decide if he wanted to  
  
say anything to her or not. She sat quietly and waited for him to make up his mind.  
  
"I lost a man last night. His was a new; young and way too eager to prove himself. " Wilkerson looked away from her and took another sip of his coffee.  
  
Faith sighed and sat back in her chair. She felt bad to hear about his man and guilty at the same time for  
  
feeling happy that she had not lost Bosco. They were both silent for a few seconds, then Wilkerson took a  
  
few steps toward her and threw his cup away in the trash can next to her chair.  
  
"I have to call his mother and explain how her son was shot in the head while standing guard in some stupid alley waiting for a official that didn't even show up." He groaned and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hand.  
  
"You lost him at the hotel?"  
  
"Yes, we think he was murdered around the same time your partner was hurt. But, with all the commotion, we didn't realize he hadn't reported in until an hour later. We are hoping someone saw something but I guess with everything that was happening out front no one seems to have been paying any attention to what was going on behind the place."  
  
Faith agreed with him. "Well, I hope something turns up."  
  
"So do I. Well, I'll see you Officer Yokas." Wilkerson turned and left. She watched him go and wondered  
  
briefly why anyone would be crazy enough to kill an FBI agent with so many other agents near by. Then she turned and went back to searching for her toothbrush.  
  
  
  
************************************  
  
Bosco just wanted to get back to his room and be alone.  
  
The tests he had been put through were simple and painless; what had gotten to him was not knowing what was going on around him. The softest sound had made him jump. He hated it. He felt the fear coming back to him each time he was surprised by a touch or heard the rustle of something near him. He needed to calm down.  
  
"Here we are, Mr. Boscorelli, back safe and sound to your own room."  
  
Bosco nodded his head at the annoying cheerful woman. He had been forced to listen to her non- stop  
  
monologue for the entire ride. He just wished she would shut up.  
  
"Oh, what beautiful flowers."  
  
"Huh?" Who would bring him flowers?  
  
"Hi, baby."  
  
Bosco was surprised to hear her voice.  
  
"Ma?"  
  
"Why do you sound so surprised?"  
  
He knew the answer to that, but he wasn't about to tell her that he hadn't thought she would bother to  
  
come. He jumped when he felt her hand touch his shoulder. She gave him a light kiss on his cheek. He  
  
could smell the alcohol on her breath; he pulled his head back from her and coughed. She must not have been too worried, he thought angrily; she had time for a drink before she came.  
  
The nurse pushed him over to the bed and he felt her hand on his arm. He didn't want any help, he shook his arm loose and felt for the bed.  
  
"Let me help you," his mother said.  
  
"No." He wasn't a child anymore. He wasn't going to let her treat him like one.  
  
He fumbled with the covers for a few seconds then pushed himself to his feet and crawled into the bed.  
  
"Okay, Mr. Boscorelli, I'll tell the desk that you are back in your room. Your call button is pinned to your  
  
pillow. The bathroom is to your left but when you have to go call someone in to help you. We wouldn't want you falling down. Is there anything else you need?"  
  
Bosco shook his head and leaned back into his pillow. Great I can't even go to the bathroom by myself. How much more pathetic can you get, Boscorelli?  
  
He heard his mother tell the woman thank-you and then the room was silent. He listened to her pull a chair up near the bed and sit down; he waited for her to speak first. When she didn't he asked.  
  
"How did you know I was here?"  
  
"Oh, your Lieutenant called last night and left a message on my machine. You know me though, by the time I got home I was really tired so I just went to bed. Then this morning when I got up, Henry called to ask me if the guy he saw on the news was you." She paused for a second. "You haven't meet Henry, have you?"  
  
Bosco resisted the urge to tell her he could care less who Henry was. Instead, he just shook his head, trying to keep his slowly building anger under control.  
  
"Where was I, oh yeah, that's when I listened to my machine and got the message from your Lieutenant. Then Faith right after that. I thought that was nice of them to call, especially Henry. I think you would like him, he treats me real nice."  
  
He didn't understand why he was so mad. His mother had been this way his entire life. She always thought about the men in her life first, then him and Mikey. Why did he expect her to change?  
  
When he was a kid, after his father had left them, he had wished that he was enough for her, but he hadn't  
  
been so he had decided it was up to him to take care of her and Mikey. Why couldn't she for just once put  
  
him first, was that too much to ask?  
  
"You mean this one doesn't beat you as much," he spat at her. "I'm sure we'll get along just great. Why  
  
don't you bring him by and we'll all get drunk together?"  
  
Before either of them could say anything, he heard a light knock on the door and then the sound of it  
  
opening.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know…" Faith trailed off for a second then continued. "Am I interrupting anything? Because I can come back."  
  
Shit, perfect timing as usual, Faith. He didn't know what to tell her, and then his mother cleared her  
  
throat and got up from her chair.  
  
"No, no I was just leaving," she said quickly. "Bye sweetie," she whispered to him. She was out the door  
  
before he had a chance to say anything.  
  
"What in the world did you say to your mother?"  
  
Bosco shrugged. He had been so angry with her but he didn't know where his words had come from.  
  
"Bosco, you had to say something to her. She looked like she was about to burst into tears."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." The last thing he wanted was a lecture from Faith.  
  
"Okay." She was silent but he could hear her walking toward him. "These are nice, did your mom bring them?"  
  
He had no idea what she was talking about. He felt totally helpless and to him that was worse than his  
  
fear of things hiding in the darkness. He lost what little self-control he had been clinging to in the  
  
last couple of hours and turned on Faith.  
  
"I can't see anything, Faith! Don't you get it?"  
  
He swung his right hand out to the front of him then to the side to prove his point. When he did, his hand  
  
hit something hard that was sitting on a table he hadn't realized was so close. The object tipped and he  
  
heard the sound of glass shattering on the floor. The noise made him jump.  
  
"Bosco!" Faith was next to him in a few seconds and grabbing his hand. "Are you okay?"  
  
Bosco yanked his hand from her grasp.  
  
"Stop it! Stop treating me like a child!"  
  
He reached down, grabbed the blankets, and pushed them away from his legs. He was already struggling to get out of the other side of the bed before he realized that he didn't have a clue where he was going. He just couldn't be here anymore. He pushed himself to his feet and instantly collided with a chair.  
  
He could feel Faith next to him, she was trying to move the chair. Before she could do it, he shoved the  
  
chair as hard as he could. He listened to it slid across the floor and then crash into the wall.  
  
"Bosco, what the hell are you doing?"  
  
He tried to ignore her. But she grabbed his arm as he was trying to stumble past her and forced him stop.  
  
"Bosco, you need to calm down."  
  
"I wish everyone would stop telling me how to act."  
  
"It's okay, I know this is difficult. I know how you feel but..."  
  
"You haven't a clue how I feel!" he shouted at her, as he tried to pull his arm free from her grasp.  
  
Faith released his arm and he stumbled away from her. He remembered the bathroom was to his left so he felt his way around his bed and slowly stepped toward it. Faith didn't say anything to him, but he could feel her next to him.  
  
He hit the wall in front of him hard and cursed. He ran his hands down the wall until he felt a corner, he  
  
cursed again and started back slowly in the other direction until he felt the doorframe. He grabbed the  
  
handle and stopped. The anger was draining away, he stood clinging to the door handle feeling empty and  
  
ashamed.  
  
He knew she was still there, why didn't she just leave him alone? "See, I can do this. I'm not helpless so  
  
you don't have to stay, either."  
  
"I'm not your mother, Bosco. You can't scare me away so easily," she said quietly.  
  
She was closer than he thought and the sound of her voice next to him made him jump. He felt his arm  
  
begin to tremble. She put a steadying hand on his elbow but he pulled away from her.  
  
"What are you so afraid of, Bosco?"  
  
"Nothing, I'm not afraid of anything. Just leave me alone."  
  
He pulled open the door and rushed inside. How could he tell her that she was right? How could he tell her what he was afraid of? She would laugh at him.  
  
No, Faith wouldn't laugh at him, but that wouldn't stop him from feeling the rising fear and the horrible  
  
feeling of not being able to control it. No way was he going to have her feel sorry for him.  
  
Faith knocked on the door. "Bosco, you can't just hide in the bathroom."  
  
"Faith, go away!"  
  
Bosco leaned his back against the wall and tried to stop himself from trembling. He slid down the wall  
  
until he was sitting on the floor. He wasn't hiding. How can you hide from something that won't go away?  
  
  
  
*********** 


	5. Part Five

Title: Into the Darkness   
Author: Debbie  
Disclaimer: I don't own anybody. NBC & WB are the lucky ones.  
  
Summary: After an accident Bosco must face his fears with the help of his friends.  
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Sex, Lies and Videotape'. The ugly Hobart thing never happened here.   
  
Notes: Thanks to Angie for all of her support. I would also like to think Jazzy (The Andorian Ice   
Princess) for being there and checking up on me. Feedback is wonderful, any sent my way will   
find a good home. This part was delayed because it had to be rewritten after 'Fallen', I watched   
that wonderful episode and then was surprised to hear Bosco and Faith saying some of the lines I   
wrote. So there wouldn't be any confusion I rewrote the second half  
  
  
Part Five   
  
  
Faith knocked on the door again; it was the third time in the last five minutes. Each time  
she knocked, he had told her to go away. But, she wasn't about to do that. She wasn't   
going to let him push her away. Not after she had seen how upset he had just been. She  
couldn't forget that she had felt him tremble at her touch.  
  
When she had come into the room earlier, she had been pleased to see Bosco's mom   
visiting. She had almost backed out of the room so they could be alone. Then Faith   
stopped and really looked at her. The poor woman looked hurt and upset; she'd looked up  
at Faith and tried to smile but Faith could see the pain in her eyes. Then she had gotten  
up from her chair quickly and told him goodbye, and then she had fled the room.  
  
When Faith confronted him about his mother, he had been silent at first, then he had basically   
told her to butt-out. She had shrugged that off. She was used to Bosco's reluctance to talk   
about his family. They had been partners and friends for quite awhile. Bosco knew everything   
there was to know about Faith and her family, maybe a little too much. She, however, knew  
very little about his family and most of the time he was reluctant to bring anything up. So, when  
he didn't want to talk about his mother, she had backed off.   
  
Then her heart had broken as she watched him make his way slowly across the room. She had   
stayed behind him, not wanting to give him another opportunity to turn his anger on her, but  
unwilling to leave him alone.  
  
Now, though, the last of her patience was draining away, so she decided it was time to put an   
end to the standoff. She told herself again that she wasn't going to let him push her away.  
  
"Bosco, if you don't open this door right this minute, I'm coming in."   
  
She recognized the same tone she used on the kids at home; it made her wince slightly. She  
listened to the silence on the other side of the door for 5 seconds, then slowly pushed the  
door open.   
  
Bosco was on the far side of the room. He was sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his  
chest, his good arm was wrapped around his knees and his head was buried between them.   
He had conned someone out of scrub bottoms; they looked two sizes too big. But, they helped   
make him look small and defeated. The man in front of her looked nothing like her headstrong,  
stubborn partner.   
  
Faith closed her eyes for a second, and then forced them back open so she could cross the couple   
of steps between them. When she reached his side, she lowered herself to the floor beside him  
and studied him. He was trying to use his body to protect himself. She didn't know what was  
making him so upset but she wasn't going to leave him this way. She reached out and gently   
touched his shoulder. He pulled away from her, and she let her hand fall to the floor between  
them.  
  
"Please Faith…just leave me alone," he pleaded with her in a soft whisper.  
  
The sound of his voice almost made her change her mind. She questioned herself silently, what   
was she doing? But she knew what she was doing; she was trying to help her partner. She was  
trying to convince him that he wasn't alone and that she cared.  
  
"Bosco. Tell me what's wrong. Are your worried about your eyes? It's perfectly natural to be   
worried, but you have to believe that everything is going to be fine. You can't let this scare you."  
  
Faith noticed Bosco shudder at her words, and then he whispered something to himself. He didn't   
say anything to her.  
  
The fingers on his uninjured hand were clenched in a tight fist around his knee. His knuckles   
were turning white and even hunched over the way he was, the rest of his body looked very stiff   
and rigid. The position reminded Faith of Charlie when he woke up screaming from a nightmare.  
  
Faith's very next thought shook her to her very core. He was afraid.  
  
Worse yet, she didn't know what to say, or what he needed to hear. She didn't know how to   
comfort him. The only thing she did know was that she was going to stay with him; she didn't   
want him to be alone no matter what he said.  
  
She eased herself slowly to the floor next to him. "Bosco, I'm always going to be here for you.  
I'm not going anywhere no matter what happens."  
  
She pulled up her legs like him and rested her head on her knees. She closed her eyes and   
decided to wait him out. Neither of them spoke for quite a while. The silence in the bathroom   
was starting to overwhelm her when Bosco sighed deeply.  
  
Faith opened her eyes and looked at him. He still had his legs pulled up but he was no longer   
hunched over. His head was leaning back against the wall; he lifted his fingers up to his face   
and ran them over the bandage.  
  
"I can't handle spending the rest of my life in the dark, Faith."   
  
Faith shook her head slightly. How could she convince him that he might be doing all   
this to himself for nothing? The doctor hadn't sounded like he was sure of the outcome,  
but he had promised her that he would do everything possible.  
  
"It's okay to be afraid of something like this, Bosco,  
  
"It's not okay, I won't let that happen to me," he told her quietly.  
  
Faith felt something cold and heavy settle in her chest. "Bosco, what are you saying?"  
  
He didn't answer her. He dropped his hand to his knee then cleared his throat. "Did I ever   
tell you about this old guy who lived across the hall from us when I was a kid?"  
  
"What?" The change of subject confused her. What was he talking about? When she didn't   
answer him, he tipped his head back toward the wall and snorted.   
  
"Probably not, I don't think about him a lot anymore. Anyway, he used to live across the   
hall from us. My dad was still living with us then. Sometimes Dad was sober enough to   
bored with beating on Mom and come after us. When I could, I would grab Mikey and we  
  
would take off across the hall to old man Gardner, and he and his wife would hide us."  
  
Bosco paused and Faith silently watched him rub his fingers back and forth across his knee.  
  
"Well, Mikey would watch TV or make cookies with his wife, but I would sit and listen   
to him talk for hours about World War II. I loved listening to him. He had parachuted into   
England, he was in the Rangers. He made it sound like so much fun. He was a hero, he  
would tell me stories about how the townspeople would cheer when they came through   
the town."   
  
He stopped talking; he looked like he was remembering all the old stories. She wasn't sure  
where his story was going, but if he needed to talk, she would listen. She wanted him to   
understand that she wasn't going to go anywhere. She raised her hand and placed it gently  
on his restless fingers. Bosco lifted his head from the wall and turned it slightly toward her.   
She thought she saw him smile, but she couldn't be sure.   
  
Then in a quiet unsteady voice, he said, "He never talked about all the things that could go  
wrong. Things that you couldn't stop."   
  
"Tell me what went wrong, Bosco."  
  
She said it without thinking. If she had been thinking she probably wouldn't have said it.   
Did she really want to know the details of what haunted him?   
  
Bosco shook his head a little too quickly. He blew a breath out of his mouth and she felt his   
fingers freeze.  
  
"Nothing, just forget about it."  
  
"No, Bosco, I'm not going to forget it. You do this all the time, you keep everything bottled up  
until it blows. Bosco, I want to help you, but you have to tell me."  
  
"It's a long story."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Bosco sighed and let go of his knees, letting his legs slide to the ground in front of him. She   
stayed quiet and let him take as much time as he needed.  
  
  
****************************  
  
She wasn't going to leave him alone until he calmed her down. He didn't want to tell anyone   
about that night ten and a half years ago. He had never talked to anyone about what had really   
happened. Even the guys in his unit hadn't known the whole story. Maybe it was time to get it   
out. He knew Faith wouldn't judge him.   
  
"I had a tough time in high school, I mean it wasn't school so much, everything was just really   
screwed up at home. Ma was jumping from guy to guy and Mikey had discovered the wonders  
of weed. The three of us would have major fights and I remember sitting in my room telling   
myself that if I didn't get away from this place, I was going to turn into a total shit like my dad."  
  
Now that he had let the memories flood back, he felt like he had lost control of them. Bosco   
leaned his head back onto the wall again and forced himself to slowly continue.  
  
"The day before graduation, Mikey and I had a huge fight. I left and somehow found myself   
standing in front of a Army recruiting office. I stared at the sign and all those stories  
Mr. Gardner used to tell me came back to me. Then I realized that this could be my way out.   
I guess the officer inside saw a real sucker because I was signed up before I knew it and   
on my way home trying to decide what to tell my Ma."  
  
Bosco fell silent when he heard Faith chuckle. "How did your mom take it?"  
  
Bosco thought back to that afternoon. Ma had been almost drunk when he got home, the newest   
love of her life had been passed out in the bedroom but she was still on the edge. He had handed   
her his papers and watched her struggle to understand what they meant. Then she laughed  
and handed them back to him. Then she had asked him,  
  
'What did you go and do something so stupid for?'   
  
'It's not stupid. I'm getting out of here.'  
  
'You think you're too good to stay around here? What about us?"  
  
'I can't stay here. You gotta understand, Ma. If I stay here I'm going turn out just like him."  
  
She had looked at him for a second then she just nodded and told him to be careful.   
He had been crushed.  
  
"She was cool about it," he said quickly. "So six months later I was through basic, then I   
caught a lucky break and was on my way to Ranger School. I think it was worst two months   
of my life. My instructor would lay into me pretty hard, he seemed to think I had a problem  
with authority." He paused and listened to her snicker, then he let himself smile, too.  
  
"Anyway, I was assigned to the 82nd and thought my life was set. The NCO, Sargent Nelson,   
was the toughest guy I had ever met but we got along great. I remember two years into my   
tour and I was considering staying on and becoming a career man."  
  
The images of the guys from his unit came rushing back. Some of the guys he hadn't thought   
about too much in the past ten years, others he thought about more often. Sgt. Nelson was the   
only face that came to him frequently, usually when he awoke in the middle of the night,   
and now in the dark little world he had been forced into.  
  
He must have lost track of real time because he heard Faith move and then he felt her hand  
lightly touch his elbow.   
  
"What changed your mind, what happened?" she prodded.  
  
Bosco shrugged his shoulders, then continued. "The Gulf War happened."   
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"We got shipped over before the first bomb was dropped. At first, we did all sorts of things,   
running recon missions, guarding checkpoints, other stuff. When the actual war began,  
a lot of the guys, me included, couldn't wait to get out there and contribute, you know go   
on a mission that would make a difference.   
  
"We got our chance when an Apache went down right before sunset. Our unit was assigned the   
rescue mission." The more he thought about that mission, the more the darkness surrounding   
him threatened to engulf him. He forced himself to continue.  
  
"Right before we left we got word that the pilot's last message might have been intercepted   
by the Iraqis. His co-pilot had been captured, but he was on his way to a small village   
they had flown over. We were on the ground and nearing the village a little over an hour later,  
our unit was then ordered to join a Special Forces unit already near the village and   
anyway we could.   
  
"McGuire, Franks, Biggs, Sgt. Nelson and I met with a few Special Forces guys right outside the   
village. Sgt. Nelson had the rest of the guys in the unit stayed at the landing site to secure it for   
our ride home."  
  
He fell silent for a minute, remembering the silent trip across the desert into the village  
"What I remember most was how dark it was. It never gets that dark in the city, but out in the   
middle of the desert you can hardly see anything. When we entered the village, no one was   
there."  
  
He felt Faith shift closer to him. She didn't say a word but she placed her hand over his slightly  
trembling hand. She was trying to urge him on, but she was also giving him a little of her   
strength to continue.   
  
"The Special Forces guys seemed really on edge about it. The place looked like something had   
hit it. Most of the houses were either falling apart or had holes in the walls. I was next to Franks   
and Sgt. Nelson when out of nowhere shots were fired. Somehow, the three of got inside one of   
the few buildings left standing. Actually Sgt. Nelson was the one that got us inside the building,  
it was a small storage hut or something. We didn't think there was anyone inside, so when we   
slammed the door shut and took cover, the only thing that was going through my mind was who   
in the hell was outside firing at us."  
  
His heart began to pound loudly; he had the insane thought that Faith could hear it. He pulled his   
arm from Faith and wrapped it around himself. He wasn't sure that he would be able to continue   
if he could feel her touch. But then the memories of those next few minutes began to rush back to   
him, and once he started he couldn't stop himself.  
  
"Nelson pointed for us to take up positions near the door while he stepped back and tried to radio   
the rest of the unit. The firing continued outside, I could hear people shouting and some return   
fire. I didn't know what he was going to do when he squatted down next to me and whispered   
for me to stay put, but before I had the chance to ask, we heard a noise from behind us and Franks  
screamed. I remember looking up at him and watching him fall. Sgt. Nelson jumped forward and   
caught him. I turned around and fired at a shadow near the back wall without thinking. My bullet  
caught an Iraqi solider in the chest.  
  
"It was the first person I had ever shot at close range." Bosco could still remember the way he   
slid slowly to the ground and the terrible gurgle as he tried to breathe.  
  
"I think I froze for a second, cause the next thing I remember was that Sgt. Nelson was yanking   
me around by my shirt and yelling at me to get Franks over to the back wall and stay there. I   
grabbed Franks and pulled him over to the wall and watched Sgt. Nelson grab Franks's gun and   
hand it to me. He said he was going out, and ordered me to stay put until he came back with   
reinforcements."  
  
Bosco stopped talking suddenly. He remembered how scared he had been but every impulse in   
his body was telling him to follow Nelson outside and help him and his friends. Nelson had   
known it and when he had handed him the gun, he had grabbed his shoulder and forced him to   
look him directly in the eyes.  
  
'I'm going out there, Boscorelli. I want you to stay here with Franks and wait for and a medic.  
You got that? You are not to move one inch until Franks is secure. I don't care what happens-you move your ass one inch and you'll be sorry. You hear me?'  
  
'Yes, Sir.'  
  
'Good Luck, Son.'  
  
'You too, Sir.'  
  
Then Nelson had turned and ran out the door shutting it behind him. Bosco shuddered and let his   
breath out slowly trying to calm himself.   
  
"I never saw him again."  
  
"Bosco. It wasn't your…"  
  
Bosco shook his head and gripped his leg a little tighter.  
  
"Don't." His hand flew up in front of him, trying to make her stop whatever excuse she was  
about to offer him. It worked because she became silent.   
  
"He never came back. I sat in that little room with Franks all night  
  
  
"The shots soon stopped outside, the fire fight moved up the hill away from the village. Every   
now and then someone outside would scream something I couldn't understand or call out for   
help. Franks passed out right after I moved him, so I pulled him up in front of me and we   
squeezed into the far corner of the room, that way I could use my gun if I needed to  
All night I kept putting my hand across his nose to see if he was breathing, making sure he was   
alive. I couldn't see a thing in there, but there were noises.   
  
"Every time something would creak, I would jerk my gun up toward the sound. I felt   
alone and at first I was jumpy, plus I felt trapped because Franks was on me so I couldn't move.   
Just when I was started to force myself to calm down, the Iraqi I shot started to moan. It scared   
the shit out of me the first time I heard him. I thought he was dead but he kept on moaning for   
what seemed like hours. When he finally stopped I was so happy, I was happy that he was dead."  
He took a slow, even breath and brought both his hands up to rub the sides of his face and across   
his ears to convince himself that the sounds from that night were just in his head. He rubbed his   
ears once then let his hands drop to his sides where he tightened his right hand into fist.  
  
He tried to push the memories from his mind and then he forced the last of his words out in a   
whisper.  
  
"We were there for seven hours. No one came until morning. By the time they got there, Franks   
had been dead for three hours and the medic had to pry him away from me."   
  
"I was scared." His voice was trembling slightly, but he no longer cared. "I don't know which   
was worse-the darkness or not knowing what was out there in the dark that I couldn't control   
because I was stuck in that damn corner. I was afraid and helpless just like now."  
  
He felt her take his hand and squeeze. "Bosco, you are not helpless."  
  
He snorted and shook his head slightly. "Faith, I can't even take a piss by myself." He sobered   
quickly then sniffed. "I can't help the way I feel, Faith."  
  
"I know Bosco, I know." Faith sighed quietly and gently rubbed his hand.  
  
He leaned toward her and she shifted slightly then pulled his head down onto her shoulder.  
Her contact broke down the last of his control and he began to silently sob.  
  
  
*********************  
  
Faith sat silently next to him and held him to her as his shoulders shook with silent tears. She   
rested her head down on his and continued to rub his hand and arm gently as her own tears slid   
down her cheeks.  
  
She wasn't sure what else she could do for him so she just sat there and held him close and   
whispered, "It's going to be okay, Bosco."  
  
The story he had told her had been both frightening and more than a little disturbing. If he was   
able to push something like that so far down and function as well as he did, how many other   
things was he able to push down and not face? Did she really want to know how many other   
things were just below the surface of her partner's emotional wall?  
  
His body stilled as he got control of his emotions and then he sniffed and pulled his head up   
and away from her. She was still unsure of what to say. She didn't have any words to comfort   
him. His jaw was still clenched but he was trying to get himself back under control.  
  
"I can't live in the darkness for the rest of my life, Faith, I won't," he said solemnly.  
  
Faith closed her eyes at his words, she vowed silently that she wasn't going to give him the chance to prove it.   
  
Then anger that she didn't know was there swelled up inside her. She knew she didn't have  
the right, but how dare he tell her something like that? How dare he tell her that he was going   
to just give up? After everything he had been through. after everything they had been through.   
It just wasn't fair of him to do that to her.  
  
"Shut up!" she exploded.  
  
He jumped and pulled away from her. "Faith?"   
  
"Don't you dare Faith me. What in the hell am I supposed to say? How dare you tell me   
something like that and expect me to just let you…"  
  
She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Instead, she pushed herself up off the floor and  
stalked to the far wall. All the horrible images he had told her were running through her head.   
But what she couldn't get control of were her own emotions. Fear and sorrow and anger were   
all hopelessly jumbled together. She didn't know what to do and she certainty didn't know what  
to feel.   
  
"Faith?" he called out to her.  
  
She turned back to look at him. He was still sitting on the floor, but his hand was reaching out   
toward her. He let it hang in the air for a couple of seconds then it dropped to his side. She   
dropped her head and brought her hands up to rub her eyes and temples.   
  
She suddenly felt very ashamed. Did she have the right to be angry with him? After he had   
trusted her enough to tell her probably one of the worst moments of his life? She couldn't think  
about that right now, she still felt angry with him but she knew that this was not a good time to  
yell at him for thinking about such things. If she pushed him too far, he would push back even   
harder or worse, he would think she was going abandon him.  
  
"Bos, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"  
  
He didn't let her finish this time. "I just don't think I could live like this forever. It feels like  
I'm right back there in that hut afraid of what I can't see what I can't control," he said sadly.  
  
She crossed the room and was squatting down in front of him before he had finished. She reached   
out and took his face with both of her hands and held him tightly. Even though he couldn't see   
her, she needed this contact to say what she needed to tell him.  
  
"Bosco, now I want you to listen to me. You are not helpless, no matter what you think, you   
are the strongest and bravest man I know. I know you're scared, I know you feel like you're   
not in control but, Bosco, no one can ever really be in total control of their lives. I want you to   
know that I'm here for you no matter what happens."  
  
She paused for a second and watched him bite his lip and nod his head slightly. Then she leaned  
forward until her forehead was resting on his and whispered, "I'm not leaving you and you have   
to promise me that you won't leave me either."  
  
"I won't Faith, I promise," he answered her with a slight break in his voice.  
  
Faith smiled and shut her eyes for a second. Relief flooded through her and she forced herself to   
hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.  
  
She managed to say, "I'm holding you to that promise, Partner."   
They sat that way for a few more seconds, then Faith cleared her throat and pulled away from   
him. She noticed that his jaw tightened and what she could see of his forehead wrinkled slightly  
It took her a moment to realize that he had winced.   
  
"Bosco, did I hurt you?"   
  
"No," Bosco tried to chuckle but it came out flat and a little too strained. "You know you're not   
heavy, you're my partner and all that."  
  
Faith groaned. His face had also been burned and the doctor had told her that he would be in pain   
from the burns until they healed. But she had forgotten and had been leaning and gripping his   
bandages and in turn probably putting pressure on his burns.  
  
"Jeez, Bos, why didn't you say something?"  
  
He snorted then smiled up at her. "After crying on your shoulder like a baby, did you really think   
I was going to open my mouth again?"  
  
Faith sighed but was happy to see some of her partner's stubbornness reappear.   
  
"Let's get you back to bed."   
  
She saw him grin and then open his mouth to say something, but she cut him off quickly.  
"I don't want to hear it," she warned.  
  
She climbed to her feet and reached down and took his right hand and helped him to his feet.   
When she put a hand on his elbow to guide him across the room and out of the bathroom he   
stopped and pulled away from her.  
  
"What is it? Do you need something?"  
  
"Ugh, I have to…can you wait for me outside. If have to use the head. And before you ask I don't   
need any help I got it covered."  
  
Faith felt herself blush as she bit her lip trying to control the laugh that was threating to surface.   
She didn't think he would appreciate her laughing at him right that minute.  
  
"Okay I'll be right outside. Knock if you need anything."  
  
He didn't say anything but nodded in her direction and turned away from her. Faith walked   
quickly to the door and pulled it open. She stepped through and pulled it shut behind her  
She was surprised to see a nurse bending down next to his bed picking up the bits of glass from   
the vase that Bosco had shattered earlier. The nurse turned when she heard her and smiled.  
  
"I brought Mr. Boscorelli's pain medication." She gestured toward a syringe laying on the table   
next to the bed, then glanced at the door Faith was now leaning on. "I didn't want to interrupt."  
  
"Thank-you." Faith really wasn't sure which she was more thankful for, the nurse bringing the   
medication that Bosco needed or for not interrupting them.  
  
"You need some help?" she smiled and stepped forward to help the nurse clean up the mess Bosco had made earlier.  
  
It was five minutes before the door to the bathroom opened and Bosco emerged. His hair was wet   
and he looked a little pale.   
  
"Bosco, are you okay?"  
  
Faith and Cathy, the nurse, rushed across the room to him. When they reached him, Faith saw   
him pull back from Cathy, but he reached a hand out toward her and let her guide him across the   
room to his bed. When he was settled under the covers, Faith reached forward and brushed his   
wet hair back and asked him again if he was okay.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got a little sick, but I'm okay now."  
  
Faith thought there might be a little more to that statement, but she wasn't going to bring it up   
now especially with Cathy right beside her.  
  
"Mr. Boscorelli, I'm Cathy. I'm going to be your nurse for the rest of the afternoon. I have some   
pain medication for you. It's going to make you sleepy so why don't you try to get some rest."  
  
Cathy eased Bosco on his side and injected the syringe into his hip. "Okay, I'll check on you   
later." Cathy smiled up at Faith, then turned and left the room.  
  
Bosco rolled back over slowly and blew a long breath out. He hadn't grumbled at all about the   
shot so Faith knew he must have needed it.  
  
"This stuff works fast," he said.  
  
Faith patted him on the arm gently. "I think that's the point, Bos."  
  
She was about to turn and leave, when he grabbed her hand and squeezed.  
  
"You said you wouldn't leave," he muttered sleepily.  
  
She smiled down at him as he dropped off to sleep. She pulled the chair up beside the bed and sat down making sure that she never let go of his hand.  
  
"Never, Partner," she whispered as she watched his chest rise and fall evenly. She prayed silently   
that his sleep wouldn't be invaded by the demons he had just shared with her. 


	6. Part Six

Part Six  
  
He drifted peacefully in a world of silence, then without warning he began to hear voices. He recognized the voices. Faith, co-workers and people he had met. Some were more familiar than others but he wanted them all to go away. He thought that he had finally found somewhere where his fears and demons wouldn't reach him but he was wrong, they even invaded him here. Why  
were they still bothering him?  
  
Then he felt himself being pulled from his peaceful state. Memories of the past couple of days flooded back to him and he felt the pain and uncontrollable fear. Then a feeling of horrible dread about his future overwhelmed him. He forced the feeling away. He told himself that he needed to focus on today and not worry about what was going to happen to him tomorrow. Jeez, he was starting to sound like some damn touchy-feely therapist. Where had that come from?   
  
Bosco let the sounds around him drift in slowly. He heard a TV with the sound turned down somewhere in front of him. He also heard footsteps and muffled voices from people in the hall. Then he heard something crinkling and then a wonderful smell he knew immediately as a steak sandwich. His stomach growled and then churned. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he ate anything, but he was starving.   
  
He wasn't sure if he was ready to face Faith or not. The entire breakdown came back to him; he had been such an idiot, such a wimp. He had actually cried in her arms. She probably thinks I'm a world class loser.  
  
He coughed and then regretted it because his head began to pound. His face stung and he felt pretty miserable and if he hadn't been so hungry he would have tried to force himself back to sleep.   
  
He heard Faith chuckle. "I thought an Iggy's steak sandwich would bring you around."  
  
"What?" he croaked, then groaned.  
  
"Those drugs must be great. You've been out for almost five hours. They changed your bandages and you never felt it."  
  
He raised his hand to the soft bandages still covering his eyes, then let his hand drop to his side. He had hoped all of his memories had been one huge bad dream.  
  
"And lucky for you--not so much for me--you missed the half a dozen very impatient FBI guys and some top brass that came down to see you. But you were still playing sleeping beauty and they had to go away a little ticked after your night nurse showed up and kicked them out. Your nurse was scary. My advice to you is to behave yourself until you get out of here because I think she can take you."  
  
Bosco tried to snort at that, but his attempt failed and he began to cough instead. He heard a chair squeak and felt Faith's hand touching his. She was holding a glass. He managed to take it from her. Without saying anything he sipped from it a couple times until his throat was no longer dry and scratchy. When he lowered it, she took it from him, and he mumbled thank-you.  
  
This is what your life boils down to now, Bosco, you can't do anything for yourself so get use to it, he thought.   
  
Faith broke the silence. "You hungry?"  
  
Bosco couldn't stop the grin. "Are you kidding?"  
  
"I thought you might enjoy some real food instead of what they left, so I had Sully pick up some steak sandwiches."  
  
Faith pushed a sandwich into his hand and he took it, raised it to his mouth, and took a bite. It was the best thing he had ever tasted he thought to himself. He took several more bites, chewed slowly, and swallowed.  
  
"How you feeling?"   
  
He knew the question was coming. How could it not? He had broken down to a blubbering mess in front of her eyes, how could she not ask? What should he say?   
  
"I'm fine." Give her the standard answer first, he told himself.  
  
"Uh huh." Faith said. She wasn't stupid and he knew she wasn't going to fall for it but he had hoped that after what he had told her she would just drop it. Of course the reason she was asking in the first place was because of what he had told her.  
  
"What do you want me to say, Faith? Do you want to know how pathetic and worthless I feel right now?" he snapped at her.  
  
She didn't say anything, then he heard her turn and walk to the far side of the room. With that one  
sentence he had done what he hadn't wanted to do: he had hurt her. He knew she was trying to decide what to say. He leaned back and decided to wait for her to answer him. She paced for a few seconds then returned to his side. He heard her sigh and then she sat down beside him on the bed.  
  
"No, Bos, I don't want to hear how pathetic and worthless you feel right now. I can't tell you that  
you have no right feeling the way you do and as much as I would love to be able to tell you that all of this is going to turn out okay, I can't do that either. But, I am not going to sit here and let you close yourself off in this horrible little nightmare again. I'm here for you, I'm your friend and that means I won't let you bullshit me anymore."  
  
Bosco sighed and nodded his head toward her. He wanted to tell her he was lucky to have a friend like her. He wanted to tell her that he didn't want to do anything to upset her again, instead he just bowed his head and told her. "I feel like crap, my head hurts and I'm not real thrilled about bawling like a baby. Happy?"  
  
"Not really, how could I be?" Bosco felt Faith's hand settle on his knee. "I'm sorry you still feel bad, do you want me to find a nurse? Maybe she can give you something?"  
  
"No, I don't want anything."  
  
"Okay, maybe later." Faith was silent for a second then she sighed, " You really don't have anything to be ashamed of, you needed to get all of that out, I'm just glad I was here for you so you could."  
  
"Faith, thank-you, You are… I just…" He didn't know what to say to her.   
  
"It's okay, Bos, I know." Faith squeezed his knee.   
  
Bosco smiled at her and wished more than anything that he could see her face right now. He had no doubt in his mind that she really did know exactly what he meant. He was relieved that he didn't have to fight for the words to tell her.  
  
Faith cleared her throat and then asked. "You going to finish that greasy sandwich before it leaks all over the bed?"  
  
"Hey, the grease is the best part!" he said defensively, then took the last couple of bites of his  
sandwich. "What did you say about the FBI?" he asked suddenly, remembering her comment from before. He finished chewing the last of the soggy roll and began to lick his fingers   
  
"Agent Wilkerson and some of his task force agents were here. They wanted to ask you about a dead FBI agent. Jeez, Bosco. You are a slob."   
  
Faith pushed a napkin into his hand and he reluctantly used it to wipe his fingers of the greasy remains.  
  
"What dead FBI agent?"  
  
"They found one of their agents killed after we left for the hospital. I guess they want to ask you if you remember anything."  
  
"I don't even remember the explosion, Faith, how am I supposed to remember some FBI agent?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
He was about to ask why they wanted to know if he remembered anything when he heard a knock on the door and then the sound of it opening. Faith got up from the bed and he heard her grabbing the wrapper from the sandwich.  
  
"Good Evening, Mr. Boscorelli. I'm Dr. Foster."  
  
"Nice to meet you Doctor, I'm Faith Yokas. Bosco's my partner."  
  
"Yes, yes, Dr. Zimmerman told me about you, I'm glad I was able to meet you. Dr. Zimmerman asked me to stop by and have a look at your eyes, Mr. Boscorelli. Is that okay with you?"  
  
"Sure, okay." He tried to sound calm but his voice came out an octave higher and he winced at the freighted edge it seemed to give his voice.   
  
The doctor chuckled and stepped forward. Faith was again at his side, took his hand, and squeezed it.  
  
"Before I do anything, I want to make sure you understand a couple of things. First, I want you to  
promise me that whatever happens with your sight when I remove your bandages, you won't let yourself get too worked up. You need to keep calm and listen to what I have to say, understand?"  
  
Bosco nodded but felt his stomach clinch with panic. Why did he sound like he didn't expect good news?   
  
"Please just get on with it."  
  
"Very well, Ms. Yokas, will you turn that overhead light off?"   
  
Faith let go of his hand for a second, then grabbed it again. Bosco took a deep breath and tried to remember the yoga breathing exercises he had been taught to try and calm himself. It really wasn't working. He felt the gauze that had been wrapped around his head loosen and then it fell from his face. He tried not to flinch.  
  
"How you doing?" Dr. Foster asked.  
  
"I'm okay," he answered in a shaky voice. Yeah, that sounded really convincing he told himself.   
  
"What I want you to do now is close your eyes until I tell you to open them, let me just get these eye bandages off. It looks like someone made sure these things weren't going anywhere."  
  
Bosco felt the pressure on his eyelids lift and he fought to keep his eyes shut as the doctor had told him. He felt the doctor pressing gently on his cheeks and then under each eye.  
  
"Looks like the anti-inflammatory medication is working, there is some swelling but it doesn't look too bad. These burns look like they should heal nicely too."  
  
"Is he going to have any scars?" Faith asked.  
  
"That's hard to say, but I don't think he will have to worry about any of these. The ones further over near his ear may scar some, but once it heals I don't think any of them are going to be very noticeable. And if they are he can always come in and have some grafts done to smooth them out."  
  
Bosco was about to tell them that he was not going to have some stupid face lift when he felt Faith's grip on his hand tighten.   
  
"Mr. Boscorelli, I want you to open your eyes slowly and blink a couple of times for me."  
  
He took a deep breath and did as he was told. He opened his eyes; it was a little more difficult than he thought. They were sore and as soon as he got them open they began to water. But he blinked three times and saw nothing but black.  
  
**************************************  
  
Faith watched as Bosco slowly opened his eyes and blinked. He blinked again, then she watched as disappointment flooded his face. He dropped his head and sighed loudly.   
  
"Nothing."  
  
Faith fought back tears and looked up into the kind face of Dr. Foster. He was smiling, trying to reassure her, but she couldn't help notice that he looked a little disappointed, too.  
  
"Mr. Boscorelli, I told you that you should try not to get to disappointed. It has only been a little over twenty-four hours since the accident, you have to be patient and give your eyes a chance to heal. Now if you can raise your head, I want to get a good look."  
  
Faith watched Bosco raise his head and surrender himself over to the doctor. Faith watched as his jaw twitched and she could tell that he was barely keeping himself under control. Dr. Foster looked in both his eyes and then reached in his pocket for a bottle of eye drops.   
  
"Okay, I'm just going to put a few drops in your eyes so I can get a better look. Still doing okay?" Bosco didn't say anything, he just nodded stiffly. Dr. Foster carefully tilted Bosco's head back and squeezed a few drops into his eyes.  
  
When the doctor lowered his hand from Bosco's face, Faith got her first real good look at her partner's unbandaged face. Small blisters were forming on the right side of his face close to his ear and a little higher near his scalp. But what really disturbed Faith were his eyes. Bosco's empty eyes just looked out at her; they were blank and looked almost foreign to her. The little mischievous twinkle that was Bosco was gone.  
  
Faith watched Dr. Foster finish his examination and then look up at her. He still had the small reassuring smile on his face. He reached into another pocket and came out with cream and more bandages then he turned to Bosco.  
  
"I know you are upset that you still can't see, but your eyes seem to be healing nicely. I don't see any signs of infection, which is one of our main concerns in a case like yours. I have the results from the tests Dr. Zimmerman performed last night and I can see some improvement."  
  
Faith heard Bosco let out a shuddering breath and he squeezed Faith's hand for the first time. She smiled at him without thinking, then returned the squeeze as Dr. Foster continued to talk.  
  
"Does that mean I'm going to be able to see again?"  
  
Faith saw Dr. Foster's smile waver. Oh god no. Please don't tell him that he is going to be blind forever. Faith knew that no matter what he had promised her before he wouldn't be able to stand living the rest of his life as a blind man.   
  
"I see you get right to the point, Mr. Boscorelli."  
  
"I'm a cop, Doc, I need to get right to the point, and you're stalling."  
  
Dr. Foster's smile finally faded from his face. It had only been for her behalf anyway and Bosco had forced him to concentrate on the one question that the doctor probably didn't have an answer for.  
  
"I can't tell you anything for sure. Everything looks like it's healing the way it supposed to heal. So right now all that I can tell you is that when we are dealing with this type of injury there really is no way to be absolutely positive about the final outcome. What you need is time. I know that isn't what you want to hear but that's the only answer I have for you." Dr. Foster finished and then glanced at her. "Just give it some more time, don't give up until there is a reason to."  
  
Bosco nodded and then cleared his throat. "Okay, but patience is one thing that I don't have a whole lot of, ask Faith she'll tell you." He was trying to lighten up the mood and she thought it was sweet of him to try.   
  
She felt the tears brimming in her eyes as she laughed. "That's right, partner, you and patience have never met."  
  
Dr. Foster applied some cream under Bosco's eyes and then placed the bandages back on his eyes and wrapped the gauze around his head until it was secure.   
  
"Now I want you to get some rest, I'm going to run some blood work and look for anything abnormal and tomorrow morning you are going to have another CAT Scan to make sure everything is still normal."  
  
"When can I get out of here?"  
  
Faith saw Dr. Foster shake his head slightly.  
  
"We really would like to keep you here until we see more improvement."  
  
"Why? It's not like I need to be here."  
  
Faith knew Bosco hated staying in the hospital. The couple times that he had been forced to stay he had been bored and upset. She knew without the distraction of being able to watch TV, he was going to be just plain miserable the longer he was forced to stay.  
  
"Okay, how about we take this one step at a time? If we release you, and I stress the word 'if,' Mr. Boscorelli, you will need to go home with someone that will be able to provide you with assistance and be able to provide you with home care."  
  
"I don't need anyone to take care of me," he said stubbornly.  
  
"Yes, you do, at least for a little while until your eyes heal completely and we are able to judge if the damage was permanent or not. Now I'll check back on you later."  
  
Dr. Foster shook her hand and then turned and left the room.  
  
Bosco groaned and dropped his head back onto his pillow. He pulled his hand from hers and rubbed the back of his head. Faith used both hands to wipe the moisture from her eyes. She took a couple of steps away from him and sunk into the chair that she had pulled up to the side of his bed earlier that day.   
  
"Hey, he told you to give it a little time. This isn't going to be permanent. You got to believe that."  
  
"I'm trying Faith, I'm trying," he said softly.  
  
He already sounded defeated.  
  
"Bos, it's going to be okay," she tried again.  
  
He sighed loudly and dropped his hand back to the bed beside him.  
  
"Can you go get me something for my headache?"   
  
He was asking her to leave; she bit her bottom lip and answered him. "Sure, Bosco. I'll be right back."  
  
She leaned over and patted his arm, then turned and fled the room. She didn't stop until she reached the bathroom around the corner from his room. She went straight to the sink and turned on the tap. She cupped some water and splashed it onto her face. When she looked up into the mirror in front of her, she was startled at the reflection that stared back. She was pale and looked very tired. Her eyes were red and her hair was a mess.  
  
She tore off a paper towel and ran in under the water. As she patted her face with the cool cloth, she drug her fingers through her hair briefly. She decided it was a lost cause and turned and left the bathroom.   
  
She went to the Nurse's Station to ask the nurse to bring Bosco an aspirin, then headed back toward Bosco's room. As she got closer to the door, she felt herself slow down. She didn't want to rush back in that room; he was still embarrassed by his breakdown earlier and if he wanted time alone, he deserved to get it.  
  
Faith turned back toward the Coke machine and got one for her and Bosco. She glanced at the clock over the machine and saw that it was almost five. She closed her eyes and then headed back toward Bosco's room, wondering what Emily and Charlie were doing.  
  
When she got close to the room, she saw a short brunette standing next to Bosco's door. She looked like she was trying to decide to knock or not.  
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
The woman jumped, then turned quickly to look at Faith. The first thing Faith noticed was that she was pretty. Not the glamorous type of pretty but natural pretty, she had vivid green eyes and Faith noticed that they were a little red and sad.  
  
"You must be Faith."   
  
Faith was confused and her face must have shown that because the woman smiled and then put out her hand.  
  
"I'm Kristen, Bosco has told me so much about you…and from the look on your face, he hasn't even mentioned me, right?"  
  
Faith stared at her a second longer. This was Kristen? She had just found out about her yesterday and now they were face to face. Faith pushed that thought out of her head and grabbed Kristen's outstretched hand.  
  
"Actually, he was going on and on about you yesterday before…"  
  
Faith stopped when she saw an odd expression cross Kristen's face. Kristen nodded at her, then let go of Faith's hand and rubbed her hands together nervously.  
  
"I heard about it on the news last night. I called, but I could never get through, then when I called  
again this morning I didn't really think they would tell me anything because I'm not family. But I have a friend who works here and she couldn't get any information either. The news this morning said he was doing better though, so I decided to take a chance and come down."   
  
"They usually don't give out any information about police officers to the public. It's just some kind of precaution. Although how the reporters know as much as they do, I have no clue."   
  
Kristen nodded then asked. "Is he awake?"  
  
Faith didn't think Bosco was in that great of a mood. Did he even want to see her? Should she tell her to leave? Faith decided that maybe Kristen was just the person he needed, someone that would hopefully be comforting.  
  
"Yes, but let me warn you he can't see. His eyes were burned and the doctor can't tell us if it's permanent or not. The doctor just looked at them, the news wasn't good and Bosco is still pretty upset."  
  
Faith watched Kristen process the information. She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them Faith saw determination.   
  
"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to upset him, honest. I just need to see him for myself." Kristen was silent for a minute. Then she gave Faith a serious look and asked, "You care about him a lot don't you?"  
  
The question surprised Faith. Of course she cared about Bosco, but the only thing she was concerned about right now was making sure Bosco felt safe. It was her job to make sure he was going to be okay, and that included emotionally, too.  
  
"Yes, he's my partner. We depend on each other." Faith sighed then looked Kristen directly in the eyes and continued. "I know that you have been seeing him for a little while, but I want to make it perfectly clear that right now what he needs is more important to me than what you need."  
  
Kristen was silent for a second as she looked intently at Faith. She nodded at Faith and then dropped her eyes to the floor.   
  
"I know I haven't known him for very long and I don't really know if he feels the same way but I care about Maurice more than you know." She paused and when she looked up again at Faith, she had tears in her eyes. "I give you my word right here and now that I won't do anything to hurt him. I just want to see him with my own eyes."  
  
Faith studied Kristen for a few seconds. The woman that stood in front of her really didn't seem to be Bosco's normal choice, and Faith had noticed the little glimmer in his eyes yesterday when he had talked about her. The woman in front of her was strong and determined. Even though Faith had just met her she realized she already liked her. She did care about Bosco and at this moment that was all that mattered to Faith.   
  
Faith prayed she wasn't making a mistake as she tilted her head toward the door and watched Kristen knock softly.  
  
***************************  
  
Bosco heard the knock and he was able to control the impulse to jump. He took a deep breath and leaned back into his pillow as he heard the door swoosh open.  
  
"Bos, how you feeling?"  
  
"Kristen?"   
  
"You didn't think you were going to get out of out of our date that easily, did you?"  
  
Bosco didn't say anything. He didn't want her to see him the way he was. He didn't think he could handle talking to Kristen right now. Where was Faith?  
  
Ignoring her question he asked, "What are you doing here?"   
  
"I found her in the hallway, she was worried about you," Faith said from beside him.   
  
"So I guess I don't have to make any introductions then," Bosco mumbled.  
  
"I got you a coke Bosco," Faith said. Bosco heard the coke can pop as she opened it and then he felt the cool can press into his hand. Bosco took the can from her and took a long shallow.  
  
He felt nervous and for some reason even a little upset that Kristen had come. He didn't know what to say.   
  
"Hey, I need to call Fred, so I'll just use the payphone in the hall. I'll be right back."   
  
Faith patted his arm once. He listened to her turn and head toward the door. He also heard Kristen whisper thanks as Faith left. Great, he thought to himself, they were double-teaming him.  
  
"You never answered my question. How do you feel?"  
  
Bosco let out a deep breath. "I'm doing okay."  
  
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" He felt himself getting angry and he wasn't sure why.  
  
"Calm down, Bosco, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
  
Bosco blew out a deep breath and cursed at himself. Why was he taking this out on her? How do I tell her that I might never see again? How do I tell her that the Maurice Boscorelli she met may not even exist anymore?  
  
"Kristen, I'm … I don't know how to say this but I may never…."  
  
She silenced him with a hand on his lips. "It's okay, I know." She kissed him softly, then whispered. "I'm not going to push you, I know that what you are going through right now must be really horrible for you. But, I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you and that I'm not going to let you scare me away. You promised me a trip to the zoo and I plan to collect."  
  
Bosco swallowed, he didn't know what to say. What did she want him to say? Too much had happened to him today, he was just too tired and confused to answer her.  
  
"I'm going to go now, I just had to…" she broke off and Bosco heard her sniff.   
  
Oh god, she's crying. Great job, I made her cry, get your shit together, Bosco and say something.  
  
"Kristen, I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you."  
  
Kristen made a snorting sound and then he felt her hand on his cheek. "Funny, I just promised your partner the same thing. I guess we both failed, huh?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
Before he could say anything else she had turned and walked toward the door. "Hey, I'll be here whenever you need me, but I'm not worried. You're in good hands."  
  
Bosco listened to the door open, then close and realized he was once again alone in the room. He  
cursed himself for not stopping her from leaving. He had wanted her to stay, he really had but he just didn't feel like making her stay.   
  
What was happening to him? Was he giving up? He had promised Faith he wouldn't give up, had he failed again? He turned his head to the side and buried his face into his pillow. He lay there until the door opened again and he heard Faith's footsteps.  
  
"Want to talk about it?"  
  
He sighed and then shook his head. "Not really."  
  
Faith sat down and put a hand on his shoulder. They sat there for a little while in silence. Then Bosco grunted and turned toward her.  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
The question must have surprised her because she didn't answer right away.  
  
"Um…close to five thirty. Why?"  
  
"Why don't you go home and see how Emily and Charlie are doing? I'm fine, I think I need some time by myself to sort some things out."  
  
"Okay. If you're sure."  
  
She sounded upset and Bosco silently cursed himself again. Great you upset two women in ten minutes; it must be some kind of record. Faith stood up, he could hear her getting stuff from the floor and then she took his hand, she was about to release it when he squeezed it firmly.  
  
He cleared his throat and wished for the hundredth time to see her face.  
  
"I don't know what I would have done today if you hadn't been with me. You saved me. Thank-you, Faith."  
  
He heard her sniff then clear her throat. "Well, how about we call ourselves even then?"  
  
Bosco smiled. She touched the back of her hand to his face briefly. Then she turned and left the room.  
  
Bosco sighed heavily. He then realized how incredibly tired he was. He didn't understand why he was so tired, he hadn't done a thing today but was sleep and cry like a baby. As he drifted off to sleep the last thing that ran through his mind was that he agreed with Kristen. He was in very good hands. 


	7. Part Seven

Notes: Thanks to Angie for all of her support. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Any sent my way will find a good home.   
  
Notes 2: If anyone would like to tell me how I did with Emily I would really appreciate it. I don't really know how 12 year old girls act so I would like to know if I'm way off base with her.   
  
  
****Warning Ahead*****  
  
**Nice Fred Alert ** **Be Kind to Fred** **Nice Fred Alert **  
  
Everyone has been warned, I have resisted the urge to turn poor Fred into a horrible guy in my story. This takes place before Fred became obnoxious on the show so I'm giving him and Faith a break. I'm just warning the large masses of Fred haters that I have an attack dog sitting beside my computer (okay actually it's an attack cat, sleeping on top of my keyboard). But I'm not afraid of hate mail so bring it on. :)   
  
  
  
  
Part Seven  
  
Faith had come home hours ago. She had dinner with her family, talked about Fred and Charlie's camping trip the next day and then curled up beside Fred and fell asleep early. But somehow she now found herself wide awake and sitting in front of the TV at three in the morning.   
  
She had learned many years ago that when it came to dealing with Maurice Boscorelli, nothing was ever very easy. Of course the main reason dealing with Bosco was such a difficult thing was that Bosco made it difficult. On an average day he was infuriating, opinionated and sometimes just plain mean. But she had learned that under all of that crap, he really did have a kind heart that he kept deeply buried under his loud-mouthed attitude and that was why she had come to care very deeply about him.   
  
Faith had been horrified when she looked up from the blast and saw her partner lying on the sidewalk, but the nightmare had not ended there. As if suffering from blindness wasn't a bad enough sentence to get for trying to save an innocent girl's life, Bosco had to relive some of his most terrifying memories.   
  
Instead of listening to Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain, she was staring at the channel 13 logo and remembering the silent sobs of her best friend.   
  
She jumped slightly when Fred placed his hand on her shoulder and bent down to kiss her lightly on the top of her head. She smiled half-heartedly at him then watched as he moved quietly around the couch and sat down beside her.  
  
"You want to talk about it?" he asked quietly.  
  
What would she say? She couldn't just tell Fred all of the horrible things Bosco had talked to her about. If she did she felt like she would be betraying him and she could never do that to him. Faith shook her head then looked down at her hands that were clenched in her lap. Fred leaned over, took one of her hands, and squeezed it. She looked up into his concerned eyes and felt the tears begin to make their way down her face.  
  
He pulled her into an embrace and she gave herself over to all the tears that she had refused to let flow in front of Bosco. Fred stroked her hair as she buried her face in his chest, they sat there for a long time, and the only sound was the low music from the TV and Faith's sobs.   
  
When she knew that she was all cried out, she took at deep breath and sniffed. "How can this be happening? It's not fair!"  
  
"It's going to be okay, Faith," Fred said softly.  
  
"He saved my life, Fred, if he hadn't pulled me out of there I probably would have died."   
  
Faith felt Fred's grip on her tighten, then she realized that her words had probably already been running through his mind. What would have happened to her family if she had died? She pushed that thought out of her mind, she didn't want to think that way and she had enough to worry about with-out playing the 'what if' game.  
  
"It's going to be okay," he repeated. "You have to keep thinking that."  
  
"You don't know that, I want to believe that but what if it's not?" She began to tremble in his arms. "What if he's blind for the rest of his life, Fred?"  
  
"I don't know, Faith, I don't know."  
  
Faith buried herself deeper in his arms and forced the trembling to slow and then stop. She was exhausted. She knew she needed to sleep so when her eyes started to close she didn't fight it. As Fred continued to rub her back softly, she quickly fell asleep. Just as she drifted off to sleep she couldn't escape the nagging feeling that they hadn't seen the last of Bosco's troubles.  
~~  
"Mommy, get up."  
  
Faith slowly opened her eyes to see Charlie's wide eyes staring at her. She brought her hand to her face and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.  
  
"What is it, Charlie?"  
  
"If you don't move, Daddy can't take me camping," he said with a giggle.  
  
"What?" she asked sleepily.  
  
Then Faith felt light tapping on her shoulder and she turned to look up at Fred. Then she remembered falling asleep in his arms the night before. He was smiling down at her with a lopsided grin on his face while he waved a finger at her.   
  
"I'm sorry. Why didn't you just get up after I fell asleep?"  
  
"You were really tired, I didn't want to wake you."   
  
"You fell asleep too, didn't you?" she asked with a grin as she sat up and let him stand.  
  
"Well, yeah," he said quickly as he cleared his throat. She watched him take a step and wince.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"My legs fell asleep, you putting on weight?" he asked then quickly ducked as she threw the pillow at his head. He then escaped down the hall to the bedroom.  
  
She turned her attention back to her son and watched him bounce around the room looking through the binoculars his grandma had given him for his birthday.  
  
"Charlie, you ready to go?"   
  
He turned back and grinned at her. "Yes, I even packed my toothbrush!"  
  
"I'm impressed." She laughed and got up to go to the kitchen.  
  
Emily was standing in front of the sink balancing a bowl on the edge of the sink while she poured milk over the top of her cereal. When Faith walked into the room, a huge smile spread across her face. She quickly pushed the bowl onto the counter, set the milk down, and turned to grab Faith around the waist in a tight bear hug.  
  
"I was worried about you," she said into Faith's stomach as she squeezed.  
  
Faith bent down and encircled her daughter tightly, she kissed the top of her head and after a few seconds pulled her away to look at her. Emily smiled at her but her eyes still had a touch of fear in them. Faith reached up, stroked Emily's cheek, and pushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Hey, I'm okay. See I'm fine, nothing happened," she said trying to convince her that she really was okay and Emily had nothing to worry about.  
  
Emily gave her a small smile and then lowered her head and whispered. "But, you could have died, the lady on the news said that the car blew up. I don't want you to die, I was so scared."   
  
Faith closed her eyes for a moment and tried to come up with something that would calm her. But what could she say? With her job she couldn't lie to her and promise that she was never going to die. Faith reached out, took Emily's chin, and raised her daughter's face until she could look in her eyes. "I know sweetie, you know what? I was scared too." She leaned forward and kissed Emily on the nose. "But everything's okay so you don't have to worry about it anymore okay?"  
  
"Bosco's not okay, is he?"  
  
Faith was startled by her words and felt the frown as it formed on her face. When did her little girl become so smart?   
  
"No, he was hurt. But the doctor said he's getting better."  
  
"Dad said he couldn't see," Emily persisted.   
  
Faith sighed and wished Fred hadn't told her about Bosco. "He can't right now, he has bandages on his face covering his eyes, his eyes need to heal and then we hope he will be able to see again when they take the bandages off."  
  
Emily nodded slowly and was about to ask another question when Fred walked into the room and rapped his knuckles on the counter.  
  
"Em, go help your brother find his raincoat."  
  
Emily looked up at her dad then back at Faith then she turned and squeezed out of the small kitchen toward her room to help her brother.  
  
Faith grabbed the edge of the counter, pulled herself up, and stared at him.   
  
He pursed his lips and raised his hands in the air briefly, then let them fall to his side. "I had to tell her something, Faith. She was over Lisa's when it happened. It was all over the news. They had Bosco's picture up with some stupid red-flaming ring around it, like he was dead. The newscasters didn't know anything, I didn't know anything and when you didn't come home that night I had to tell her something. We both told Charlie that you were staying at the hospital because Bosco was sick."  
  
Faith nodded and lowered her head, trying to force back the tears that threatened to fall. Fred stepped toward her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her close to him. They stood that way for several minutes until they heard the phone ring and the sound of loud feet rushing down the hall to answer it. She heard a brief scuffle as her two phone crazed kids struggled for the phone. Then Emily appeared in the doorway with the phone in her hand.  
  
"It's for you, Mom. It's the FBI," she whispered.  
  
Faith took the phone and stiffed a giggle as she watched Fred's eyebrows creep up his forehead. She turned slightly from them and glanced down at Emily's now soggy cereal.  
  
"Hello," she said into the phone.  
  
"Officer Yokas, this is Agent Wilkerson, I hope you remember me. I'm sorry to call you at home but I needed to speak with you."  
  
"That's okay, when did you want to get together?"  
  
"I wanted to stop by in a couple of hours to speak to your partner, I was hoping that I would be able to speak with you at the same time."  
  
"You still want to talk to Bosco?"  
  
"Yes, I need to find out exactly what if anything he saw. We think we have been able to piece all the pieces together but I just need to cover all my bases."  
  
"Sure of course, but Bosco doesn't really remember much, I don't know how much help he is going to be able to give you."  
  
"I understand, but I need to hear that for myself. Will you be there."  
  
"Yes, I was planning on stopping in after I went to the house to file my report."  
  
"Can I meet you there around eleven?"  
  
"Eleven is fine, I'll meet you in Bosco's room."  
  
"Thank-you, Officer. Goodbye."  
  
Faith listened to the phone click and turned to look at Fred and Emily. Fred looked curious; Emily however looked scared again.   
  
"They just need to ask us some questions," she said quickly.  
  
Fred nodded but she could tell he wasn't satisfied with her answer. Emily smiled and then leaned around her and took her cereal and headed for the table to eat.   
  
Faith raised her hands and ran them through her hair. She needed to take a long hot shower and clear some of the cobwebs out. She motioned for Fred to move then started toward the opening and their bedroom. When she passed him he touched her arm and she turned to look at him.   
  
"You want me to stay home?" Fred asked. "I can always take Charlie another time."   
  
"No, why would you want to do that? Besides Charlie would probably kill you."   
  
Fred released her arm and shrugged his shoulders. She smiled at him again and then turned and headed for that much needed hot shower.  
  
*********************************  
  
Bosco brought the bottle he held to his lips and blew into the hole. He listened to the low moan the bottle made before he brought it to his lips and blew again. Somewhere in the back of his head, his mind was telling him that he had truly hit an all time low in the boredom scale. But there had been nothing else to do for the last twenty minutes.   
  
When the nurse had brought him back to his room after his CAT Scan she had taken his blood and promised to scrounge around for a radio that he could listen to but she hadn't come back yet. Before he had been taken away for testing he had tried to listen to the TV but without being able to see exactly what was happening to the coyote and roadrunner, he had become frustrated and refused to try again. So that brought him to blowing in his orange juice bottle and praying for a visitor.  
  
When he heard his door open he automatically looked toward the door then cursed himself for doing such a stupid thing. Because even looking at the door gave him absolutely no clue to who was there.   
  
"Who is it?"   
  
"Hey, Bosco, it's Sully."  
  
"How you feeling? The doc said you took a lump on the head."  
  
He heard Sully chuckle. "I got a hard head. Shouldn't I be asking you that question though?"  
  
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and fumbled with the table in front of him until he was able to sit the bottle down and push it out of his way. "You know doctors, they all keep saying it's going to take time."  
  
"Yeah, yeah."  
  
Bosco shifted in his bed not sure what Sully wanted to hear or really what to say to him. Neither of them said anything for a minute or so. Bosco was staring to feel uncomfortable. But he could understand Sully's silence; he had no clue what he would say if their positions were reversed.   
  
"Well, I just came by to see how you were doing, Oh yeah Davis told me to give you this."  
  
"What?"   
  
"Dammit, I'm sorry, Bosco. I didn't mean to..."  
  
"It's okay, Sully, it's weird, I know. Don't worry about it." He told him hoping he didn't sound as helpless as he felt.  
  
Bosco heard Sully's shoes squeak as he took a couple of steps closer to his bed. Sully put something on his lap and then squeezed his shoulder. "This is all going to work out fine Bosco. You'll be back giving the bad guys hell in no time."  
  
Bosco nodded his head and then dropped his hand to his lap and felt a small flat object attached to a wire. He ran his hands up the wire and felt the foam covers on what had to be earphones for the CD player he now possessed. He smiled. All right Davis!   
  
"Tell Davis thanks for the CD player."  
  
"Sure, but he wanted to make sure I told you it was only on loan to you."  
  
"What's on loan?" Came Faith's voice form the doorway.   
  
"Davis told me to bring by his CD player for Bosco to listen to while he was cooped up here."  
  
"Hey, I think I saw the new Faith Hill CD down in the gift shop. Should I run down and get it?"  
  
Bosco groaned and Sully laughed.  
  
"I'm not getting involved in this. See you later, Bosco."  
  
Bosco waved his hand in Sully's direction as Sully crossed the floor and whispered something to Faith and she answered him. Then he opened the door and left. Faith walked up to his bedside and touched his hand before she pulled the chair up and sat down.  
  
"I wish people wouldn't do that."  
  
"What?" She sounded confused.  
  
"Whisper about me when I'm sitting right here. I can still hear, you know."  
  
"For your information, we weren't whispering about you."  
  
Bosco blew a breath out and let his head fall back into his pillow. "Right."  
  
"We weren't, he asked me how the bump on my head was."  
  
Guilt flooded through him. She had been hurt and he had never asked how she was. He sat up quickly and reached out toward her. "Faith, oh my God, you didn't tell me you were hurt. Are you okay?"  
  
Bosco felt her hand on his arm and he relaxed a little.  
  
"Bosco, calm down. I'm fine. I just hit my head on the ground. It doesn't even hurt anymore."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know, Bosco, I mean you really didn't have anything else to worry about, did you?"  
  
"Come on, Faith, it's hard enough trying to keep myself from jumping every time the AC comes on, I don't need you keeping things from me, too."  
  
Bosco felt Faith's light touch for a second on his head then she pulled it away and said. "Okay, Bosco from now I don't hold back anything, happy?"  
  
Bosco nodded his head. "Yes, I can handle it Faith, I really can."  
  
"I know you can, Bosco. So you want me to tell you all about how I stubbed my toe getting into the shower? Or maybe I can give you all the gory details on the nasty leg shaving incident this morning?"  
  
Bosco groaned. "Faith, I'm serious."  
  
Bosco listened to Faith laugh as she went to sit down in her normal chair. He then heard a knock at the door and then Faith tried to stop laughing as she cleared her throat.  
  
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."  
  
Bosco didn't recognize the voice but it seemed vaguely familiar.  
  
"No, we were just discussing my morning. Nice to see you again, Agent Wilkerson," Faith answered.  
  
Bosco vaguely remembered the stiff agent that they had talked to briefly in front of the hotel. But what interested Bosco more was the slightly formal way Faith answered him. Bosco had worked with Faith long enough to know that something was up. What had happened between the two of them? He pushed that question back into his mind so he could grill her about it later.   
  
"Yes, you too, Officer Yokas. How are you feeling, Officer Boscorelli?"  
  
Bosco shrugged his shoulders and answered. "I'm doing just fine."  
  
"Good, that's really good to hear."  
  
Bosco heard Faith stand and step toward his bed as Wilkerson stepped across the room.  
  
"I called your partner earlier and asked if I could stop by and ask the two of you some questions. I hoped I could ask you these questions yesterday but you were sleeping when we came by."  
  
Bosco nodded, "Yeah, Faith told me you guys stopped by. I was pretty wasted yesterday."  
  
"That's fine. I just wanted to ask you a few questions. I don't know if Officer Yokas told you or  
not but one of my agents was found dead after the bombing incident at the hotel. He was a kid, first assignment. I want to be able to tell his parents something." Wilkerson paused and cleared his throat then continued. "Anyway, we located him in the alley behind the hotel with a gunshot wound to the head."  
  
Wilkerson had stopped again and cleared his throat then finished. "What I need to know from you is if either of you saw anything that might help?"  
  
"I don't remembering seeing anyone except the teenagers that were protesting out front. Then the  
kids on the bikes started racing by, I really couldn't tell you about anyone other than them, and I really didn't even get a good look at them." Faith answered.   
  
Bosco searched his memory for anything that might help. He couldn't really remember a whole lot. Faith had told him what had happened. He really hadn't tried to remember much of it on his own but now he forced himself to think back to before the accident. He remembered joking around with Faith and Sully about the kids. Slowly details of the conversation with the teenagers came back to him, something about them wanting a better world or something.  
  
"Do you remember anything, Officer Boscorelli?"   
  
Bosco managed to keep from jumping as Wilkerson's words interrupted his thoughts. He shook his head slightly in frustration. "Not a whole lot."  
  
"Anything you remember will help."  
  
"Well, I remember the teenagers protesting. They were typical tree hugger types." Bosco stopped when he thought he heard Faith make a weird little noise, then he smiled because he knew she was annoyed by his description of the kids as tree huggers. "Anyway, I went down into the parking garage and then..."  
  
Bosco paused trying to remember what else had happened he knew there was something else, but he couldn't remember what. Bosco must have been silent to long because he heard Wilkerson clear his throat and say.  
  
"I know you have been through a lot if you can't..."  
  
"Hang on," Bosco stopped him. Then memories of the parking garage came flooding back to him. "The garage was loaded with guards so I decided to take a look at the alley behind the hotel."  
  
"Bosco, what were you thinking?" Faith asked him.  
  
"You mean you were in the alley before the explosion?" Wilkerson asked quietly.  
  
Bosco tried to force his brain to remember what happened next. He remembered a tall man standing in the shadows then the radio had come to life and he heard Faith calling for help. He remembered running around the edge of the building and watching Faith push the young girl in the car, then Davis shouting at him.   
  
"Bosco, hey, Bosco." Faith was shaking him.  
  
"What?" he asked, breathing deeply.  
  
"You kind of zoned on us there for a minute." Faith was leaning over him talking softly into his ear.  
  
"I remember the explosion, Davis yelled at me but I was trying to get to the squad."   
  
"Bosco, relax. Agent Wilkerson, maybe you should come back..."  
  
"No, Faith, let me try and help," he interrupted her.  
  
She was trying to protect him. He felt helpless enough in the dark. He wasn't going to hide behind her anymore, if he could he help he wanted to, he needed to. He took at deep breath and forced himself to calm down. They were only memories, he told himself, they couldn't hurt him. He had been frightened enough in the past couple of days by memories and things he had no control over, he was tired of it and he was going to make it stop here and now.  
  
"I need to do this," he told her.  
  
He felt her hand resting lightly on his shoulder; she squeezed his shoulder then she mumbled okay so low that only he could hear her.  
  
"I saw a man in the alley, but I didn't see any FBI agents around."  
  
"Do you remember what he looked like?" Wilkerson's voice was closer now and he felt the pressure on his shoulder tighten just a little.   
  
He was crowding her and she didn't like it. He reached up and covered her hand with his before he continued. "Tall, probably around six feet, slender and a little graying. He was pretty average looking. He did have a accent though European, I think."  
  
"Is that all you remember?" he sounded a little disappointed.  
  
"Yeah, pretty much he was just some guy smoking a cigarette I really didn't get a chance before... Is any of this helping?" Bosco felt a rush of anger at not being able to remember anything else.   
  
"Actually, yes it is. We think the killer was a paid assassin sent over to kill one of deputies of the  
Serbian Assembly. The Deputy was detained and never made it to the hotel and after the explosion he decided that he had been in the US long enough and was ready to return home. He left that night."  
  
"Leaving you with a dead agent and a mystery," Faith said somberly.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes."  
  
The three sat in silence for a second then Wilkerson said, "Thank-you very much for your help, Officer Boscorelli, I'm going to try and match your descriptions with some people we suspect. I'll let you know if we turn anything up."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Agent Wilkerson turned and walked quickly out of the room. Bosco was trying to remember anything else but once Wilkerson had left his mind kept pulling him back to the explosion and Faith calling his name on the radio.  
  
********************************  
  
Faith turned to watch Agent Wilkerson leave the room and when she turned back she saw that he was chewing on his thumb. Bosco had enough bad memories to think about, he didn't need more piled on top of those. She sighed and then sat back down in her chair resting a hand on the bed next to his elbow.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts," she said to him.  
  
He jerked his head up and then smiled at her. "I just wanted to be able to help that's all. I need to be able to get control of this." He sighed loudly and then said, "I'm tired of being afraid."  
  
Before she could answer him there was another knock at the door. Faith recognized Doctor Zimmerman as he stepped into the room.  
  
"Mr. Boscorelli, it's Doctor Zimmerman. How are you feeling today?"  
  
"A whole lot better if I could get out of here," Bosco said flatly.  
  
Faith watched Doctor Zimmerman's eyebrows raise. "Well I see Doctor Foster wasn't exaggerating when he told me that you were determined to get out of here."  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
Faith saw Zimmerman ignore that comment as he glanced over the chart he held in his hand. Then he looked back up at Bosco. "Well the CAT Scan came back and it looks good. There's no sign of swelling. The nurse said that when she changed your bandages this morning there was no sign of infection either so that's good news. It looks like everything is healing nicely."  
  
"Does that mean you'll spring me?" Bosco persisted.  
  
Doctor Zimmerman looked at Faith, who just shrugged her shoulders. He was not going to drag her into this fight. She knew from experience that once Bosco got something in his head, he wasn't about to let it go and she didn't want Bosco to feel like she would desert him for any reason--especially not now.  
  
Doctor Zimmerman sighed and said. "I would really like for you to stay."  
  
"Why?" Bosco demanded. "You said yourself that I'm healing nicely."   
  
Doctor Zimmerman closed his eyes, brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, and squeezed it for a few seconds before he opened his eyes again. When he did open them, he turned and looked directly at Faith. An uneasy feeling flooded through her and that moment she was relieved that Bosco couldn't see the serious look on the doctor's face. She turned away from the doctor and watched Bosco as the doctor forced himself to answer his question.  
  
"Mr. Boscorelli, I would like you to stay here a couple more days. I would like to introduce you to some counselors and set up some rehabilitation sessions for you before you leave."  
  
Faith jerked her head back to look at Doctor Zimmerman; she instantly regretted it because all she  
saw in his face was disappointment and resolve. What she saw in his face was that he thought Bosco's sight wasn't coming back.   
  
"No," Bosco said quietly.  
  
She turned back to look at him. His jaw was set and he looked like the hardheaded partner she knew. She was happy to see the old Bosco had finally appeared. She decided that she had to stand behind whatever he decided.  
  
"I really think it's best if you take advantage of what the hospital has to offer."  
  
"I'm not going to see some counselor and I'm not going to sign up for your blind man classes."  
  
"Very well, but I will not send you home without someone there to look after you, like it or not you need someone to help you."  
  
Before Bosco could say answer, Faith realized this was her chance. She turned to look at Doctor Zimmerman and instantly made up her mind.   
  
"He can come home with me." 


	8. Part Eight

Notes: Thanks again to Angie for her support. I also want to thank Genie who helped me with the details of Faith's apartment. After all her hard work I had to change the location of Faith's bedroom to make certain things work, sorry about that. The Yokas's approve of their new place, I promised no raise in rent and maybe a new bathroom. Hey I figure if TPTB can change their apartment every season then why can't I. Well I hope everyone enjoys my latest effort.  
  
  
Part Eight  
  
  
There was a moment of stunned silence in the room and then Bosco felt Faith's light touch on his shoulder. Doctor Zimmerman cleared his throat and shuffled his feet slightly. He could just imagine the look Faith was giving him at this minute. Bosco tried to take a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. All his anger from seconds before had vanished. He suddenly felt himself sliding back into the fear and uncertainty of the day before.  
  
Zimmerman had given up on him. All of his kind words and his encouragement had been lies. He had said them just to calm down the blind man. Bosco's heart began to pound in his chest. Oh God, the doctor doesn't think I'm ever going to be able to see again. A strong squeeze from Faith's hand broke his thoughts and pulled him back from that place he didn't want to even think about.   
  
She didn't say a word she just squeezed his shoulder again and then relaxed her hand but left it resting on his shoulder. Why was she doing this? How could he ask her to do anymore than she had already done? He forced his head up slightly and said in slight whisper.  
  
"Why are you doing this, after all I have put you through, why would you want more?"   
  
He heard her sigh and then as if she was talking to one of her kids she said, "I'm doing it as a kindness to your nurses here on the floor, they have yet to see you in full 'I am Bosco hear me complain' mode. I'm just saving them from it."  
  
This wasn't what he needed to hear. This was Faith trying to cheer him up, trying to make everything seem right with the world when they both knew that things were far from it. So he clamped his jaw and said a little more forcefully than he had intended to.   
  
"Faith, you have already..."  
  
She cut him off with a firm squeeze to his shoulder, then she bent down until he could feel her hair brush against the side of his face. She whispered quietly in his ear. "I'm your partner. I go where you go. If you want out of here, it's my job to make that happen. I'm sure you would do the same for me, right?"  
  
"You know I would, Faith. But..." He took a deep breath and let the words fall out quickly as he turned from her. "I'm not your partner right now, all I am right now is a pathetic blind man."  
  
Faith sighed and took the side of his face and pulled his face back toward hers. He could feel  
her disappointment and it made him feel a little ashamed.   
  
"Maurice Boscorelli, you have never been pathetic a day in your life, and you never will be. You are the strongest, most loyal man I know and I am not going to let you beat yourself up."  
  
He was quiet for a minute. He didn't know what he had ever done to deserve a partner and friend like Faith but he was so happy that he had her. He raised his hand and placed it on hers.  
  
"Thanks, Faith," he said softly, but that was all that he could mange before his voice faltered.   
  
"Besides my ass is getting really tired of that chair so I say it's good for both of us," Faith said with a laugh as she tried to lighten the mood.   
  
Bosco went along with her and held up his hands in a 'I give up' gesture. "Okay, you win." He grinned up at her and she took her hand from his shoulder and swatted him on the top of his head.  
  
Doctor Zimmerman cleared his throat to get their attention back and then spoke as if he was reciting something that he had written down and practiced many times. He probably had for all Bosco knew. Bosco wondered how many times one of his patients proved the good doctor wrong.  
  
"Very well, Mr. Boscorelli. I really don't want to keep you here any longer than is medically necessary. Since your burns are healing nicely, I'll write the orders to let you go home in Mrs. Yokas's care. I want you to be in Dr. Foster's office first thing Monday morning so he can have a look at those eyes. Just let me get the orders written and we can spring you in a few hours."  
  
"A few hours," Bosco moaned.   
  
"That is actually a very conservative estimate for a hospital. I promise you will be out of here by dinner time." He chuckled then turned to leave the room.  
  
Faith patted his arm once then said. "Hey, I'll be right back."  
  
A tingle made it's way up Bosco's spine and he decided that Doctor Zimmerman had motioned her to meet him outside. He didn't like being treated like a child and although he didn't hold it against Faith, he thought the Doctor should talk to him not her. He was, after all, the patient, wasn't he?  
  
"Is it okay if I ask Sully to swing by your house and pick up some of your things?"  
  
Bosco shrugged his shoulders, not really thinking about her question. His mind was still on what Doctor Zimmerman wanted to speak to Faith about. "Sure, doesn't matter to me."  
  
"Anything you really need? Hey you okay?"  
  
Bosco forced his head to nod up and down for yes then decided to tease her a bit so she would know he wasn't upset at her.  
  
"I guess my playboys would be useless huh?"   
  
"Well, we could always start a little bonfire on the roof. You think they would make good kindling?" she said with a giggle, then she turned and he heard her make her way to the door.  
  
Bosco almost choked at the thought as he yelled at her. "How dare you, Faith!"  
  
When he was sure that she had made it out into the corridor, Bosco threw the blanket off his legs and rolled out of the bed. He planted his feet on the ground and got up. Unsure of which way to move, he followed the direction Faith had gone. He moved slowly at first, with his hands out in front of him. That quickly annoyed him, so he just took a deep breath and plowed ahead. He tripped over a clothesbasket on wheels and fell flat on his face. He cursed and dragged himself to his feet. He then rushed the rest of the way across the room to the door, managing to hit it with the side of his hand before his face. He reached down, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open just a crack. He could hear Faith and Dr. Zimmerman's voice nearby. The doctor had probably just waited by the door until Faith came out and then just pulled her to the side.  
  
He heard Faith's angry voice first.  
  
"He wants to go. This has been harder on him than you can ever imagine. If he wants to go, I'm going to do anything I can so he gets what he wants."  
  
"Mrs. Yokas, I know that you want to protect him, but helping him run away from reality is not helping. Mr. Boscorelli may never get his sight back; he has to face that fact. What he needs is counseling, and he needs to be taught new skills for his future."  
  
"What he needs is someone that's not going to give up on him. I suggest that you keep that in mind because I have seen Bosco do some amazing things and if anyone can beat this, my money's on him."  
  
Bosco heard Dr. Zimmerman clear his throat and felt a second of pity for him. Anyone facing down Faith in what Bosco liked to call her 'ultra protective mode' had to be given a little pity.   
  
"I'm sorry, Officer Yokas, but I'm just trying to be realistic. But don't think for one minute that I'm not praying that I'm wrong about him."  
  
Bosco heard him walk away, then stop and say, "He's very lucky to have you watching out for him."   
  
"I'm very lucky to have him watching out for me," he barely heard her whisper as she started to dial her phone.  
  
"Thanks, Faith, you don't know what that means to me." That's all that he could say as he rested his face on the door.   
  
~~~  
  
They sent in a nurse to explain what kind of care he would need once he was sent home. He was given a pain pill and then taken for more blood tests and another battery of tests on his eyes. Then a nurse went over the steps for removing his bandages, applying more of the sticky cream, and then covering them up again. She must have done a pretty good job because the nurse congratulated her and Faith sounded pleased when she announced to Bosco that Kim better look out for her job. Only later when the nurse reminded her to give him a pain pill at least a hour before she changed the bandages because removing the old bandages were very painful did Faith start to apologize for hurting him. Then he had to tell her five times that he was fine before she finally believed him and was able to conquer the next task the nurse insisted on going over.  
  
Over five hours later, Faith was helping him up the stairs of her apartment building to her apartment.   
  
"Okay, almost there."  
  
They were both breathing heavy from the short walk up. Bosco from being cooped up in a bed for days and Faith because she had insisted on carrying all of stuff up from the car. Faith stopped in front of her door and set everything down to find the key to the door. A few seconds later Bosco heard the lock click and she opened the door and touched his arm. He pulled his arm slightly away from her; he knew Faith's apartment and he wanted to be able to do something on his own. Faith paused for a minute then pushed her way past him and said, "Okay, just stay there for a second and let me make sure no one left anything on the floor."  
  
He clung to the doorframe as he listened to Faith move around her apartment. Bosco forced his mind to remember Faith's apartment and was pleased with himself when it appeared. He heard her drop his duffel and then the sound of her putting her keys on the table behind the couch. The bags she carried filled with bandages, bottles of pills and things he would rather not know that she had gotten from the hospital clattered down beside the keys.  
  
"Well, like I said Fred took Charlie camping..." She paused and then grunted as she picked up something in front of him and then threw it across the room. "If you want, you can take Charlie's bed. We just got him a new one so it won't be too short. Emily went to stay with her grandmother so it's just you and me."  
  
"Hi, Mom."   
  
"Emily, what the... what are you doing here? You were supposed to be at your grandmother's house."  
  
Emily sounded a little scared. "She called this morning right after you left. She said she wasn't  
feeling very good and I told her that it was okay and that I would stay with Lisa tonight."  
  
"Why didn't you go to Lisa's then and does your dad know you are here all by yourself?"  
  
"Lisa went to the shore with her cousin." Bosco could hear Emily getting closer to him and he hoped that she wouldn't drag him into this.   
  
"Hi, Bosco, you want me to help you to the couch?" When she mentioned the couch, Bosco suddenly felt very tired and trapped by the two females in the room.  
  
Before he could answer, Emily had gently pulled him forward toward the couch and away from her mother. Bosco couldn't help but laugh to himself as he thought that Emily, just like her mother, knew how to throw someone off the scent better than anyone he had ever met.   
  
When they got to the couch Emily was quiet; she waited until Faith left the room before she placed one of her hands on his and asked very seriously.  
  
"It doesn't hurt to be blind does it?"   
  
Bosco was lost for words. He had no clue what to say to her. He wasn't in physical pain but the fear and the dread were just as bad.   
  
So he just smiled and said quietly, "No Em, it doesn't hurt."  
  
"Good," she said softly.  
  
He then leaned back into the soft cushions in the couch and fell asleep.  
  
************************************  
  
  
  
Faith let Bosco sleep on the couch until just before it was time to take his medication and have a late dinner.   
  
While Bosco slept, her daughter had been an unwilling recipient of a lecture about the dangers of staying alone when no one knew she was alone. She had been mad at Emily for lying to her father but nothing had happened, thank God, and she had made the girl promise she would never do it again. When Faith asked her why she didn't just go with Charlie and her dad camping Emily had said she was too old to go camping in the yucky dirty woods. Faith suspected the real reason had more to do with being afraid because she had almost lost her mother the day before.   
  
When Faith woke him up she made sure she shook him gently and said his name. "Bosco."  
  
"Yeah...what," he answered sleepily.  
  
"Are you hungry?"  
  
She watched him yawn and then feel the blanket that she had pulled over him an hour or so before.  
  
"Did I fall asleep?"  
  
She laughed. "Yes, you did, so want something to eat?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Faith moved to help him up but he batted her hand away.  
  
"I want to try, Faith," he said firmly.  
  
Faith stepped back and watched as he slowly got up and shuffled around the couch toward the table behind it. She winced when he ran into the sofa table behind the couch and then again when his knees slammed into the back of his chair. He didn't say anything either time, but she saw the sudden grimace and then the extra effort he made to carefully sit down.  
  
Faith decided that if he wasn't going to mention it, she wouldn't either. She sat down on the other side of the table and watched as his fingers moved restlessly over the bowl of stew in front of him to the spoon sitting next to it. She thought if he only had to deal with one spoon and one food it wouldn't be too hard to eat. Before they had left the hospital, Dr. Zimmerman had forced them to listen to a nurse that specialized in schooling the blind. Among the several things she had drilled Bosco on was how to find his silverware and glass and eat without seeing his food. He was able to eat without too much mess or trouble.  
  
"Where's Emily?" Bosco asked halfway through his stew.  
  
"I sent the ungrateful child to her room." Faith couldn't help but laugh when she saw the pained expression appear on his face. Then she remembered that being sent to his room when he was a child was probably a whole lot different than Faith sending Emily to hers. "Oh, don't give me  
that look. She took half a left over pizza and a new video with her."  
  
After dinner Bosco said he wanted to get cleaned up before he went to bed. Much to Bosco and Faith's relief, the nurse had told him that he could take a bath, not a shower, as long as he kept the bandages on his face and hand dry. She didn't know which of them had been happier that they wouldn't have to endure a potentially embarrassing sponge bath.   
  
So Faith helped him down the hallway to the bathroom. She stepped into the bathroom and grabbed a towel from under the sink and some shampoo and soap. She took the clean sweats and shirt he was carrying with him, put everything on the counter next to the sink, and guided his hand forward until he touched it.  
  
"Are you sure you don't need any help?" she asked. "You want me to start the water?"  
  
He grinned at her. He opened his mouth to say something and to her relief he changed his mind and just shook his head. "No, I think I can manage."   
  
"If you need any help..."  
  
She saw the light red blush appear on his cheek. She bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh or say anything to embarrass him or her further and closed the door before he could say anything.  
  
After his bath, Emily had insisted on playing tour guide. Bosco had been patient as Emily had guided him slowly from one room to the next. Faith watched with pride as Emily carefully guided him around furniture and even had him stand in the hall for a few minutes while she picked up Charlie's toys and her books on the floor before she guided him into her room.  
  
After the tour Bosco had been returned to the couch with borrowed CD's from Emily. He had refused to kick Emily out of her room just so he could sleep on Charlie's bed. Instead he convinced her that the couch with plenty of pillows would be just fine.  
  
"Well goodnight. Oh, I'll leave the bathroom door open for you," Faith said.  
  
He nodded but didn't say anything. She turned and headed toward her bedroom and the sound of his voice clearing stopped her.  
  
"Thanks, Faith" He was smiling at her but there was a small touch of sadness in his voice. He was trying to face his situation and he was starting to fight back, he was fighting his fear. It made her happy and she felt a little pride that this man was her friend.   
  
"You're welcome, Bosco."  
  
He nodded his head and then lay back onto the pillow. Faith stood there for just a minute and watched as he fumbled with the player for a few minutes before he was able to find the buttons to start the machine.   
  
~~~  
  
Faith woke the next morning to the phone ringing. She heard it several times before she forced herself to roll over and grab it. She glanced at the clock--it was almost nine--before she pushed the on button and growled into the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Faith" It was Sully's voice.  
  
"Sully, why are you calling me at nine in the morning?"  
  
"Is it nine in the morning, I wouldn't know," Sully said sarcastically.   
  
Faith rolled her eyes and sat up in bed. "Bad night?"  
  
"You could say that. Your Agent Wilkerson had us running around beating the bushes for anyone who had seen his hit man."  
  
"Sully." She groaned "First, Agent Wilkerson isn't 'mine'. Second, I haven't any idea what you are talking about."  
  
Faith brought her free hand to her temple and rubbed at the sudden stab of pain just above her eye. She got up and headed toward her door. She opened it and walked quietly down the hall. She didn't want to wake Bosco up. When she stepped into the living room, Bosco was stretched out on the sofa with Davis's earphones on his head, snoring lightly.  
  
"Well, let me tell you the story," Sully went on in her ear.  
  
Faith sighed and made her way quietly to her kitchen. She propped the phone on her shoulder and started making coffee while she listened to Sully.  
  
"Agent Wilkerson snagged Davis and me last night. He thinks he's identified the guy who popped his agent, some big time assassin from Eastern Europe. Well, the only information he has about such an evil man is Covic. That's it, just a name. He told us that was all he had, he said something about the guy never left anyone who could identify him. Agent Wilkerson is a little intense and way too pushy if you ask me. I think you should have hit him harder."  
  
Faith couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as she pulled a cup down from the cabinet and poured the coffee into the cup. Sully stopped and said something to someone standing near the phone. Davis was probably trying to calm him down, she thought. When Sully came back on the line he sounded just a little calmer, but not much. She shook the contents of the sweet and low packet into her cup and stirred it with a knife she found next to the sink.  
  
"Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, we dragged our asses in and out of every place we could think of and guess who we came up with?"  
  
Faith had taken a small sip of her coffee so she had to swallow fast so she could answer the unexpected question. "Who?"   
  
"Milo."   
  
"Milo?"  
  
"Yeah, he's back in town. He told us he saw Covic but the little shit only wants to talk to you."  
  
Faith couldn't understand why Milo would want to talk only to her. She and Bosco had sent the guy to prison three years ago on an assault charge. He and his brother had tried to get away in a stolen taxi. Faith remembered that neither Milo nor his brother had been the brightest of guys. But they had run anyway and Faith and Bosco were right behind them. She had been at the wheel when she saw the car cross in front of a bus and collide with another car in the next lane. When Faith and Bosco got to the car, Milo's brother was already dead and Milo was cursing them.  
  
"Why does Milo want to talk to me? He hates us, especially me."  
  
"I know, Faith. I tried to tell Wilkerson that, but he wants you to come down and see what he has to say."  
  
"Okay, I'll be down there as soon as I can get there." She told him and then pressed the off button.  
  
"What was that all about?" Bosco asked.  
  
Faith jumped. When she did she spilled her coffee down the front of her shirt. "Shit."  
  
"What...Faith... Are you okay?" He sounded worried.  
  
Faith sat the cup and phone down, grabbed the towel next to the sink, and dabbed at her shirt. "I'm fine, Boz, I just spilled, oh it doesn't matter. You scared me. I thought you were asleep"  
  
He grinned at her and titled his head toward the coffee maker. "For some reason they wouldn't give me any coffee in the hospital. It smells great."  
  
She grinned at his remark and then thought to herself, they were probably afraid that you would burn yourself with it just like I just did.  
  
"Can you make it to the table? I'll bring you a cup."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Faith watched him turn and take small steps toward the table. He was a little more confident than the night before when he had shuffled through the entire apartment like an old man. Faith turned back to the cabinet and got another cup out. She poured his coffee into the cup and then added a little more to hers.  
  
When she got to the table she sat the cup down in front of him then sat in the chair next to him. She sipped at the warm liquid several times as she watched Bosco slowly take the cup in two hands and raise it to his mouth to drink. When he had sipped it twice he sat it down and then turned in his chair to face her.  
  
"Who was on the phone? Why were you talking about Milo?"  
  
Faith sighed. She had hoped he hadn't heard any of that but she really wasn't surprised that he had.   
  
"Agent Wilkerson thinks he ID'd that guy you saw in the alley. All he has on the guy is a name. Covic."  
  
She paused while he shrugged his shoulder and she put down her own cup.  
  
"Well, he had Sully and Davis out rousting people all night and they turned up Milo."  
  
"How does Milo know someone like Covic? I mean it's not like they run in the same circles."  
  
"Who knows? Milo says he will only talk to me. So they want me down there right away. Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?"  
  
Bosco laughed. "Yes, I think I can handle being by myself for a couple of hours."  
  
"You're not by yourself," Emily said as she hopped into the room.  
  
Faith looked at the huge smile on her daughter's face, then turned to look at the fake smile that Bosco had plastered on his. She had to bite her lip and swallow a few times before she was sure that she wouldn't laugh the minute she opened her mouth.  
  
"Emily, why don't you go get your breakfast?"  
  
Faith watched Emily turn and head into the kitchen Then she turned back to look at her partner.  
  
"I don't know, Faith," he said slowly.  
  
"I don't have anyone else, Boz. It will be fine. I'll only be gone for a few hours. What could happen?" Bosco frowned up at her as she patted his shoulder and rushed by him to her room.  
  
She glanced into the kitchen as she passed it and saw Emily pouring milk into her glass.   
  
She jogged down the hall to her room and found a pair of jeans and a sweater. She decided the quicker she got down there, the quicker she would be able to get back. She went into the bathroom, ran a comb through her hair, and brushed her teeth quickly. By the time she got back to the living room Emily was sitting at the table beside Bosco eating her cereal and explaining why she didn't like Scott Waters from downstairs.   
  
"Okay, guys, I'm going. Emily, be good."   
  
"We'll be fine," Bosco managed to say.  
  
"If you need me, call."  
  
"Okay," Bosco and Emily said at the same time.  
  
Faith laughed as she watched Emily giggle into her glass and Bosco take a deep breath and rub his hands nervously together. Faith grabbed her jacket and purse and left the apartment, hoping that she hadn't pushed Bosco into something he really didn't want to do.  
  
When she reached the 55, Sully was pacing the hall outside the interrogation room. Davis stood behind him and gave Faith a small 'back off' gesture as she walked up. They both looked tired and unhappy. Faith saw Agent Wilkerson sitting at a desk just inside the room and at the far end of the room chained to a chair, Milo sat staring at the floor.  
  
"I'm glad you're here," Sully said quickly as he made another turn in the hallway.  
  
Faith looked at Davis, who shrugged. "He told us he won't say a word until he sees you."  
  
An unexplained fear crept up Faith's spine as opened the door and stepped into the small room. Sully and Davis were right behind her when Agent Wilkerson looked up from the file he was reading. Faith thought he had a strange look on his face as he got up and leaned toward her.  
  
"Sullivan says this guy blames you for his brother's death."  
  
Faith nodded as she glanced over his shoulder and caught Milo's eyes looking up at her from behind his dirty blond hair. He was smirking.  
  
"Well, see what happens, we don't have much to lose."  
  
Faith nodded and stepped around Wilkerson toward Milo.  
  
"How you doing Milo? How long you been out?"  
  
Milo just shook his head slightly and titled his chair back on two legs. He grinned up at her. "Officer Yokas."  
  
Faith stopped just next to his chair and leaned down slightly. "Sullivan says you know where we can find Covic."  
  
Milo shifted his weight slightly until he was looking at her then he grinned again.  
  
"So, Officer Yokas, how is that hard ass partner of yours like being a cripple?"  
  
Before anyone could stop her, Faith reached out with her foot and shoved the chair out from under Milo. Milo landed flat on his back on the ground with the chair on top of him. Sully rushed forward, grabbed Faith, and wrestled her into the corner while Davis and Wilkerson picked Milo up off the floor and sat him back down in the chair.   
  
Faith shook Sully off of her and stepped forward again. This time Davis stayed behind the chair and Wilkerson stood behind Faith.   
  
"Milo, I want a answer."  
  
Milo sneered up at her and then said. "I want my brother back. I guess sometimes you don't get what you want."  
  
Faith stepped back for a second, then turned away from him.  
  
"You don't know Covic, you're just wasting our time."  
  
Milo began to laugh as Faith stormed from the room. Sully and Davis followed her into the hallway. Something was nagging at her but she just couldn't put her finger on it.  
  
"Why would he be stupid enough to pull something like that?" Davis asked.  
  
Faith shrugged. A few minutes later, Wilkerson came out of the room and kicked the trashcan that was sitting next to the water fountain. The three officers watched with some amusement as he mumbled under his breath then turned and looked at them.   
  
"He said a man matching the general description of Covic paid him to tell us he knew Covic."  
  
"Why would Covic pay some guy to turn him in?" Sully asked.  
  
"That's the weird part. Milo told him he would get a thousand more if he made us call in Faith and tell her that he knew Covic."  
  
"I don't get it," Davis said.  
  
A cold knot formed in Faith's chest as the truth hit her suddenly.  
  
"Bosco. He's going after Bosco, he had to get me away from Bosco." Then real terror hit her. "Oh my god, Emily," she whispered.  
  
"What is it, Faith?" Sully asked.  
  
"Emily is with Bosco." Faith looked up at Sully as tears formed in her eyes.  
  
Sully backed up quickly and pulled her toward the front door. Faith heard Davis yelling at the Desk Sargent as they passed. Faith couldn't think of anything but her daughter as Sully pushed her toward his squad and jumped in the driver's seat.   
  
************************************  
  
The morning was going pretty good. Bosco was starting to think that all those people were lying about this parenting thing. It wasn't hard at all. Of course Emily was really sweet. Faith had once told him that she thought he had a crush on him, which made him very uncomfortable. But the crush thing hadn't come up so he thought he was safe.  
  
After breakfast, Emily had opened the door and got the paper. They sat on the couch together as she turned to the comics and tried to explain them in great detail to him. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he could care less how fat Garfield was or what he did to Odie. After the long ordeal of the comics, Bosco had just convinced her to turn to the sports page when someone knocked on the door. Emily sprang from the couch and was heading toward the door before he knew it. He was able to grab her hand before she got to far away.  
  
"Hey, Emily, is anyone supposed to come by this morning?" he asked curiously.   
  
"No, I don't think so. Why?"  
  
"Ask who it is."  
  
She sighed loudly then said, "Okay."  
  
Emily pulled out of his grasp and went to the door. Bosco pulled himself to his feet and stepped toward the door.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
There was a slight pause then a muffled voice said, "It's Mr. Pearson, the super. I'm here to drop off the new fixtures for the bathroom."  
  
A small shiver ran through Bosco as he heard Emily unlock the door.  
  
"Em, wait don't..."  
  
Before he could finish she opened the door and he heard Emily yelp then the sound of a small scuffle followed by something hitting the floor. Bosco stepped toward the sound but before he could take more than a few steps, Emily was clutching his waist tightly and he couldn't move.  
  
"Who is it?" he asked with fear in his voice. He forced himself to stay calm and stop freaking out at probably nothing.  
  
"Well, Officer Boscorelli, nice to see you again."   
  
The second he heard the voice with the strange accent, his mind flashed to the tall well-dressed man in the alley. The man that Agent Wilkerson said killed his rookie. Covic.  
  
Bosco reached down, pulled Emily from his waist, and shoved her behind him.  
  
"What are you doing here? This is stupid."  
  
He had no idea what to do. He couldn't think. What was he able to do? The man was a professional and he was, what? A blind cop without a weapon, not that he could have seen to use a weapon. Then he remembered the baseball bat Faith had propped up against the back of the couch, the one that he had tripped on in the middle of the night when he had made the long journey to the bathroom. He started to slowly back away from the man.  
  
Covic chuckled and then exhaled loudly. "Well, I suppose it is."  
  
Bosco heard a light rustle of fabric then his voice continued slowly and calmly. "But I just couldn't leave knowing you had seen my face. Who knows what kind of trouble you could have given me?"  
  
Bosco felt Emily's hand on his back as he continued to back up. They had to be almost there. Then he stumbled into Emily because she had stopped; they were at the couch. Bosco forced himself to remember exactly where he had repositioned the bat.   
  
"He has a gun," Emily whispered.  
  
Bosco gave the man a big smile and then held his injured hand out in front of him. He reached awkwardly behind his back for the bat with the other hand. He heard the guy take a step toward them he thought he sounded pretty close. Good thing, Bosco thought because he was only going to get one shot at this.  
  
"Well, hey looks like that fire took care of that for you. I mean, hell. I can't even see to piss so how can I ever ID you for anything?"  
  
Silence engulfed the room for a second, then Bosco heard Covic take another step toward him. Bosco searched for the bat and was relieved when he felt Emily press the handle into his hand.  
  
"Well, that might be true but now I have to do something about her. Don't I?" The closeness of the voice startled him and then the man's words hit him.  
  
Bosco brought the bat out from behind his leg in one swift quick motion. He put some force into it as it passed his knee and aimed mentally for the man's knees or groin. At that moment he wasn't being picky. Bosco grinned when he felt the bat connect solidly. The grunt afterward proved that Covic had been caught off guard at the sudden attack. Bosco yelled for Emily to  
run and then swung the bat four more times at the man. The bat hit twice, then Covic fell to the floor.  
  
Bosco turned and scrambled toward the kitchen and Faith's lockable door beyond. As he passed the kitchen a small hand reached out and grabbed his shirt. He stopped and squatted down as he did, he looked uselessly back over his shoulder towards the living room.   
  
She was crying. "I fell," she told him.  
  
Bosco took a deep breath and strained his ears for sounds from the other room. What do I do? What would Faith do? Get Emily the hell out of here is what Faith would do, but how?  
  
"Em, listen you have to go."  
  
"NO! I can't leave you." She began to cry louder.  
  
Bosco tried to shush her quiet. "Listen to me, I need for you to run for help. Can you do that?"  
  
"I don't want to leave. Please don't make me go, please."  
  
"I need you, Em. Please, Emily go get some help. I know you can be brave and strong just like your mom. I need you to go downstairs and call the police."   
  
He didn't have a clue where downstairs she could find a phone but the most important thing running through Bosco's mind was that she would be downstairs and that was all that mattered.  
  
"Okay," she sniffled.  
  
"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Em. I'm proud of you. Now when I tell you to run, I want you to run. Don't stop until you get downstairs. You got that, no matter what you hear you keep running. Can you do that?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Now how do I get her past him?   
  
"I'm going to get him to follow me. I want you to wait until he passes you and then head toward the door, when you hear me yell open the door and run."  
  
"He's going to hurt you."  
  
"Don't worry about me. I only care about you getting out of here. I need you to go get help. Promise me, Emily"  
  
"I promise." She sniffed again but it sounded a little stronger this time.  
  
Bosco took a deep breath and stroked Emily's hair once before crawling away from her. He felt the side of the wall until he found the opening to the hall. He tried to listen; he couldn't hear anything but his pounding heart and the small sniffles that were still coming from Emily behind him. He realized that if he could hear them then Covic would know by now exactly where Emily was. He also knew that he had to give Covic a better target than a terrified 12-year-old girl. He forced himself to listen to the sounds in the room and heard a very soft scrap of a shoe coming from the opposite side of the room; Covic was struggling to his feet.  
  
Bosco ran his hands around the side of the wall and took a firm grip; he pulled himself up and stumbled out into the room. He knew that the table was to his right and the bookcase was to his left, beyond that was the hallway to Faith's bedroom. He took a deep breath and then turned down the hall and stumbled quite loudly down the hall. He heard a crash from the living room and knew that Covic was after him.   
  
He had to give Emily time to get out, when he felt the door with his outstretched hands he pulled it open quickly and pulled himself inside. He turned quickly, put his hand on the door, and closed it a few inches until it was open just a crack and he could still hear the steps that were coming down the hallway. He prayed that Covic was well past the door to the kitchen and when he could no longer ignore his mind screaming at him to close the door he yelled 'GO' as loud as he could and shoved the door closed as hard as he could. And in that second he realized he had waited too long because the door didn't slam shut as he thought it would instead it stopped suddenly and he felt it being forced back toward him. He frantically searched for something to push in front of the door and felt a tall rack next to the door he grabbed it and pulled it over, when it was on it's side he kicked it into place in front of the door stopping the door from opening.  
  
Bosco cursed and stepped backwards. He knew the bed was somewhere behind him and beyond that was the bathroom. His only chance now was to get to the bathroom. He turned and started toward where he thought it was. He threw his hands out in front of him and started across the room. He hit the bed with his knee and tried unsuccessfully to stop himself from falling hard. Instead he tumbled over the bed, hit his head on the floor, and ignoring the sharp burst of  
pain, he crawled toward the door. He raised his hands and felt relief flood through him as he felt the rough surface of the bathroom door, he dug his fingernails into the side of the door, pried it open, and tried to throw himself into the bathroom. He was almost through when he felt a hand grab his ankle, then another hand grabbed his knee and yanked him backwards.  
  
Bosco tried to grab onto something, anything but nothing was on the ground to help him. He was forcefully pulled back. Then he felt the grip tightening and knew that Covic was trying to flip him. He let Covic flip him onto his back. At the exact moment he felt his back hit the floor he pulled his free leg up and kicked at the man with all the force he could. He heard Covic grunt and felt his grip on his knee loosen, Bosco raised his leg again and kicked again. Bosco heard the grunt again, but this time Covic was able to grab his foot and twist it to the right. Bosco felt a sudden pain shoot through his knee.   
  
"You should have let me do this the easy way," Covic grunted.  
  
That was the last thing he heard as Covic's foot connected painfully with his side. Bosco gasped and had no chance to breathe before another blow landed on his already burning side. Bosco turned to his side to protect his ribs and was rewarded with a kick to his back that sent spasms of pain through his body. Covic then grabbed his shirt and pulled him to his knees. Bosco had no warning before Covic slugged him in the face. Bosco was then pulled to his feet and dragged from the room. 


	9. Part Nine

Part Nine  
  
Notes: Thanks again to Angie for her support. I hope everyone is enjoying this. Comments and any feedback will be given a wonderful home and help me write this faster.  
  
  
Faith mentally urged Sully to get his car to her apartment faster, but she could see that he was going as fast as he could. The sirens were blaring and they were running through every light they came to. Faith heard a horn sound from somewhere behind them. Sully turned a corner short and she had to grab the dash for support. She turned and saw Davis and Wilkerson in a squad behind them.   
  
Faith's thoughts returned to Emily and Bosco. Why had she left them alone? How could Bosco protect Emily? She forced herself to be honest, he couldn't see to protect himself much less her daughter, then hated herself for the thought. Faith knew that Bosco would do everything he could do to protect Emily. The remark she made earlier about what could go wrong kept jumping into her mind, and it was becoming harder and harder to ignore. Please let Emily be okay, she kept  
chanting over and over in her head.   
  
She must have been saying her new mantra out-loud without realizing it because Sully glanced over at her then quickly returned his attention to the street in front of him.  
  
"It's going to be okay, Faith. Emily is going to be just fine," he said to her as they rounded the corner sharply. He reached forward and silenced the siren as they pulled up in front of her apartment building.  
  
Faith didn't wait for the car to stop before she yanked the door open and ran up the steps to the lobby door. She heard Davis and Wilkerson's car pull up behind them. She didn't wait for them to get out, she just took the steps two at a time. Sully's heavy footsteps sounded on the steps as he followed her up the steps into the building.  
  
Faith turned to run up the stairs but was quickly blocked by a short woman grabbing hysterically at her arm. She turned and came face to face with Agnes Pearson, the wife of the building's super. The woman was crying and shouting at Faith. Faith couldn't understand the woman's frantic words. She also didn't care at the moment; she tried to peal herself away from the woman. The only thing on Faith's mind was getting to her apartment and to Emily, and Bosco.  
  
Sully came up to them and tried to pull Agnes away from Faith. He finally succeeded and Faith glanced at the woman, then turned and climbed up two steps. But something forced her to stop and try to understand what the woman was ranting about. She forced herself to concentrate on the woman's words. Each of the woman's sentences was broken with tears and sobs, she was difficult to understand but somehow Faith was able to make out what she was saying.   
  
"Oh, Faith you are here. I called the cops, they said someone would come but I didn't know it would be you." Agnes stopped and wiped her face, then continued. "Henry's gone. Some man took him, I think he's dead, Faith...Oh my dear lord I think he's dead."  
  
Agnes had begun to cry again. Every last instinct in Faith's body was screaming for her to get up those stairs, but her mind forced her to stay. Her mind was telling her that what ever had happened to Agnes Pearson was important and she had to listen to the upset woman.  
  
Sully was trying to calm her down. "It's all right, can you tell me what happened?"  
  
Faith was still standing on the stairs when Wilkerson burst into the doors and looked at the people before him. Agnes was taking deep breaths and trying to get her sobs under control. When she was able to answer Sully, she talked slowly as she wrung her hangs together and tears ran steadily down her cheeks.  
  
"I was baking cookies and the doorbell rang, I thought maybe the children in the building would like them. Oh...well...Henry got up from watching his program and answered the door." She wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her dress and then went on. "I wanted to know who it was so I put the bowl down and went into the hallway near the door. I heard a man asking about your apartment, Faith."   
  
The woman turned to look up at Faith, who stood paralyzed on the stairs listened to her story.  
  
"He wanted Henry to go with him upstairs. He asked Henry if he was alone." Agnes began to sob again but quickly got control of her self and continued. "Henry said he was, but he sounded so strange, sounded frightened. I didn't know what was going on, but I have been married to Henry for thirty-five years and that's the first time I have ever heard him sound like that." Agnes looked Faith directly in the eyes then Agnes' eyes began to tear and she forced her eyes away and turned to look at Sully. "Henry left with the man and when they left I ran to the door and looked out.  
The man had a gun pointed at Henry. Henry hasn't come back."   
  
Agnes couldn't hold her sobs in any longer she broke down in Sully's arms. Sully held the woman but Faith saw the pained look in his eyes when he glanced up at her.  
  
Faith looked at the crying woman and then glanced at Wilkerson's face. Their eyes connected briefly and she saw anger and something else flash in his eyes before she turned to run up the stairs. She heard someone behind her on the stairs as she made it to the first floor landing she grabbed the handrail and was about to swing around and charge up the next flight of stairs when someone grabbed her.  
  
"Stop!" he barked as he pulled her around until she faced him. His face was flushed and he was angry, he hissed at her. "You're a cop for god's sake, think like one."  
  
She glared at him and yanked her arm from his grasp. "My child is up there!"   
  
Wilkerson took a deep breath. When he spoke again his words were softer. "That's exactly why you have to calm down and act like a cop right now." He paused and then sighed deeply. "I know it's hard but you can't be a mother right now, you have to calm down and think before you act."  
  
"I can't stand out here and do nothing," she argued.  
  
"We are going to get them out. "  
  
Faith studied him carefully for a second. He looked very serious and determined. Faith wasn't sure if Wilkerson motivations were to grab Covic or to help Emily and Bosco but at that moment she didn't care. He would help her save Emily and Bosco and that was all that mattered to her.  
  
She slowly nodded her head, closed her eyes for a second then opened them again and turned to look up the stairs. She told herself that she had to force all the fear out of her head. But she had no control of the fear that still gripped her chest, but she knew she had to get control of it. If she couldn't she would make a stupid mistake and she didn't even want to think about what would happen to Emily and Bosco if that happened.  
  
Faith heard footsteps on the stairs and they both turned to see Sully was climbing the last few steps. He was soon standing beside them in the hall. Faith looked up at his flushed face and then back at Wilkerson.   
  
"Davis is downstairs with Mrs. Pearson, he's got her calmed down some. Some of the Agents from your division are out front they wanted to know what you wanted them to..."  
  
The rest of Sully's sentence was cut off by the sounds of multiple sirens and tires screeching outside. Sully tilted his head slightly then frowned. "Sounds like ESU is here."  
  
"Yeah, and if Covic didn't know we were here he sure the hell knows now."  
  
Sully's radio beeped then the voice of the dispatcher brought it to life. "55-Charlie, ESU In charge officer on site Lieutenant Holden would like to speak to the agent in charge from the Bureau."  
  
"What's that about?" Sully asked as he reached for his radio.  
  
"Your ESU Lieutenant wants to remind me that this is his turf."  
  
"We don't have time for that, we have to get up there," Faith muttered.  
  
Wilkerson looked at Faith's worried face and then back at Sully. Wilkerson ran the balls of his fingers over his face then gestured for Sully to hand him his radio. Sully shook his head slightly then passed the mike over to Wilkerson.   
  
Wilkerson grabbed the mike with his right hand and pressed the button with his thumb. "This is Agent..."  
  
He suddenly grabbed the cord with his left hand and with a quick and violent yank he pulled the mike from Sully's radio. Faith reached out and steadied Sully before they both looked at the cord that was now dangling from Wilkerson's hand.   
  
"Well look at what I did," Wilkerson said calmly. "I'm so sorry I broke your radio, Officer Sullivan," he finished with just a hint of a smile on his face. Then he turned and started climbing the stairs. "I don't have time for some stupid pissing contest," he muttered to himself after a couple of steps.  
  
Sully and Faith looked at each other for a second stunned. Then Sully broke out into a huge grin and they both turned and followed Wilkerson up to the next floor and Faith's apartment. When they reached her floor, Faith pointed to her door and then forced herself to stand back and let Wilkerson take the lead.  
  
Sully stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Without thinking she reached up and covered his hand with hers, grateful of the support he was giving her.  
  
"Don't worry Faith, Bosco won't let anything happen to Emily."  
  
Afraid that she would lose what little control she still clung to if she spoke, Faith just nodded.  
  
Wilkerson looked at the door then back at her. He gave her a tight smile then he turned back to the door.  
Faith felt herself draw in a breath and hold it as she watched him take a deep breath and knocked on her apartment door.  
  
"FBI, open the door."  
  
************************************************  
  
Covic dumped Bosco onto the floor near the couch. Bosco could sense him still standing over him, then he grabbed Bosco's shirt and pulled him forward. Bosco could feel the other's man's breath on his undamaged cheek.   
  
"Don't get any ideas either or I'll turn that bat on you. I'll let you see how it feels," Covic stated  
icily.   
  
Bosco yanked himself out of Covic's grasp, and slumped to the floor. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position with his back against the side of the couch.   
  
Covic began to mutter in what sounded to Bosco like a foreign language. Then he could smell the smoke from a cigarette. Bosco heard him step away from him toward Faith's door. A few minutes later he heard the deadbolt lock into place. With his last hope of escape cut off, Bosco tried to catch his breath. His lip was bleeding and his ribs were on fire, even if he could manage to get to the door he thought Covic would be able to easily grab him before he had the chance to throw the bolt and open the door.  
  
"I knew I should have stayed out of America. Well now what am I going to do with the two of you?"  
  
Bosco ran his tongue over the cut on hip lip and was about to tell Covic what to do with himself when the words the man said hit him.  
  
Two? Emily got out, I told her to run. Bosco felt a feeling of dread flow through him and settle in his stomach. His expression must have changed because he heard Covic chuckle then step closer to him.   
  
"Are you worried about someone, Officer?"  
  
Bosco shook his head. He sensed that anything he said now, especially since he didn't now what the situation was, wouldn't do him any good. Covic snorted and walked towards Faith's kitchen.   
  
Where was Emily? He hoped that she had made it out the door and was now downstairs at a phone calling for help.  
  
Covic walked back over to Bosco. Bosco heard him grunt. Something hit the floor next to him.   
  
"You really didn't think you could fool me with that pathetic diversion did you?" Covic sneered.  
  
Bosco reached his hands out slowly and gasped when his hands felt smooth fabric. He swallowed quickly and forced his hands to move slowly until his fingers felt a few strands of hair. His chest tightened and he had to force himself to remain calm as he reached a couple of inches more and felt Emily's ear then her still face. He took a deep, shuddering breath and let his hand move to her neck, he was so relieved to feel a steady pulse under his fingers.  
  
"What did you do to her? If you hurt her again I will..."  
  
Covic cut him off with a snort and a slap to the side of his head. "Really, Officer, I don't think you are in any position to threaten me."  
  
Bosco could hear him take a deep breath and he knew the man was standing over him. Then Bosco heard the sirens from outside the building. Somehow Faith had figured out what was happening and she had sent help.   
  
Faith would save them.  
  
"Looks like you spoke too soon."  
  
Bosco heard a strange sound, almost like a low growl and then Covic had a tight grip on his throat. Bosco was lifted up from the ground as Covic squeezed his throat slowly. 'He's going to kill me' ran through Bosco's mind as he tried to breathe.  
  
"I should have killed you when I had the chance in the back of that building. If I had just had a second more you would have got a bullet in the head like that young FBI fool."   
  
Bosco felt the grip tighten, then Covic released his grasp and Bosco sagged back to the ground gasping for breath. Covic took a couple of steps away from him then turned and walked back to him.  
  
"I'm not one of the stupid thugs you spend your days chasing after, I know I have very little options open to me. I'm not stupid enough to think that just because I have one of New York's finest as a hostage that your fellow police officers are just going to open the door and let me walk out of here. Just like you, in my line of work you have to be prepared to die."  
  
Covic bent down close to Bosco, he could smell the cigarette smoke in the other man's breath. "How about you, Officer Boscorelli, are you prepared to die?   
  
This man's crazy, Bosco thought, I'm locked in here with a psycho. Bosco swallowed and forced himself to calm down and try and figure a way out of this.   
  
A knock at the door made him jump and Covic snort. Covic stood and walked to the door.  
  
"FBI Open the door," a voice called through the door.  
  
Silence filled the room, and then there was a second knock.  
  
"Covic, this is Agent Wilkerson with the FBI. We know you're in there, why don't you take this opportunity to come out and you have my word that you will not be harmed."  
  
Bosco listened as Covic stepped away from the door and back toward him.  
  
"That's what I love about FBI agents," Covic said. "They always have such fine manners right before they try to kill you. It doesn't matter what he says now they will kill me, so tell me, Officer Boscorelli, what should I do?"  
  
"I thought you had this all figured out, you have no chance with these guys."  
  
Bosco heard another knock at the door then he heard Covic's steps as he stopped in front of him. He heard the snap of the other man's knees as he bent down, and then he could feel his presence very close to him.  
  
"I told you before that if I hadn't lost my chance behind the hotel you would be dead already. This whole situation is really your fault. So what I propose to you now is a question."  
  
Bosco was confused, where was he heading. "What? Just unlock the door and give yourself up, you don't have a choice."  
  
Bosco had no warning so he couldn't prepare himself for the blow from Covic's gun when it landed on the side of his head right above his ear. He felt his head snap back as pain flooded through him.  
  
"Now, let's try this again. We both know that I have no chance of getting out of here. Correct?"  
  
"Yes," Bosco said slowly, not understanding where the man was going.  
  
Bosco heard a rustle as Covic reached over him quickly and then he felt Emily's hand on his leg pulling at him. He heard her moan and knew that Covic had silenced her somehow.   
  
"I'm going to ask you again, Officer Boscorelli," Covic continued calmly. "Are you prepared to die?"  
  
**********************************************  
  
Faith's anxiety rose every time Wilkerson knocked on the door and there was no answer. Sully turned to look at her and threw up his hands in frustration. She closed her eyes and listened to Wilkerson pound on the door again. When she heard his footsteps turn and come to her, she forced her eyes open.  
  
"Door's locked, but I did hear movement." He blew out a short breath and then looked away from her. "It's not much but it's a start." Then he pulled out his cell phone and punched several buttons, then handed it over to Faith he said. "Go ahead and put your apartment number in there, hopefully he'll pick up the phone."  
  
Faith nodded and punched her home phone number into his phone then handed it back to him. She was about to ask him when he would try the number when they heard the sounds of several pairs of feet on the steps behind them. They both turned and Faith recognized Lieutenant Holden of ESU standing on the top step. Behind him were Ty and several men in suits that Faith didn't know but figured could only be FBI agents.  
  
The agents stepped around Ty and the Lieutenant and made their way to Wilkerson.   
  
"Sir, we have a perimeter around the building with sharpshooters of the NYPD on the surrounding buildings."  
  
Wilkerson glanced sideways at her then returned his full attention to the agent in front of him. "Targets?"  
  
"We have a confirmed ID on Covic, he was spotted in the window but there wasn't time to get a clear shot before he took cover."  
  
Wilkerson cursed and Faith saw the other agent redden slightly.   
  
"He hasn't put himself in the clear again, he must know we are here."  
  
"Of course he knows we're here. The man's not stupid or deaf."  
  
Lieutenant Holden stepped forward at that moment; he looked like he was barely holding unto his temper. Wilkerson turned to Holden and stared at the man, they both looked furious and more than a little frustrated by the situation.  
  
"If you have something to say about the way the New York City Police Department responds to a situation in their own city I would be more than happy to hear it."  
  
Faith couldn't take anymore of it from either of them; she stepped forward between the two and forced them to step back from one another. "Shut up both of you!" she screamed.   
  
From the corner of her eye, she saw Sully and Ty's surprised reactions. It crossed her mind for a second that she was yelling at a superior officer and a government agent, but she quickly pushed it aside, deciding that at that moment she didn't care who these two idiots were. "If the two of you want to kill each other you can do it later after Emily and Bosco are out of there!"   
  
She turned to look at Holden first, he had a shocked look on his face. He nodded stiffly at her then took a couple of steps back from her and Wilkerson. Faith turned to Wilkerson. The look on his face surprised her; he was smirking at her. She glared at him for a second then he turned and pulled his agent a few steps away and began to give him orders.  
  
Faith took a deep breath and tried to get herself under control. Ty and Sully were quickly at her side. Ty had a grin on his face but Sully was frowning.  
  
"That was cool," Ty said   
  
"No, That was stupid," Sully growled.  
  
Faith looked up at him and knew he was right. "Yeah, I'll worry about it later."  
  
"You have been hanging around Bosco too long," Ty said with a laugh then became silent when he saw the look on Sully's face.   
  
Sully still looked angry but when he spoke again his words were calm and his voice had softened. "You will worry about it when they finally realize that you're way too close to this whole thing and someone yanks you back downstairs to wait it out in an RMP."  
  
She knew he was right. She had to force herself to get some kind of control, if she made too many problems she would be forced outside and away from the one place she needed to be right now.  
  
Wilkerson finished with his agent and the man turned and jogged down the stairs. Holden looked at him for a second then stepped over to him.  
  
"What's the plan?" he asked evenly.  
  
Wilkerson didn't blink an eye at the man's change in attitude instead he motioned toward the stairs were his agent just left.  
  
"Shepherd went for the super's key. But first we need to know what's going on in there. Are your sniper's in position?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Tell them to determine the location of Covic and the hostages. He has two for sure--Officer Boscorelli and Emily Yokas. He took the super hostage also and we haven't been able to locate him so determine his position inside, too. If we have to take the door, I don't want hostages taken down by mistake. I need three of your best men up here with me in the hall."  
  
When Wilkerson finished, Holden nodded then turned and took his radio from his belt and began to issue orders. Wilkerson turned back to Faith and Sully and then motioned for them to follow him to Faith's door.  
  
"If we can't get him to talk to us we're going to have to make some tough choices and soon," he said quietly  
  
"We can't just wait him out?" Sully asked.  
  
Wilkerson bit his lip and then looked from Sully to Faith. He looked like he was trying to decide how much to say. He met Faith's eyes and said. "I'm afraid the Bureau...no I haven't been that up front with a few things."  
  
"What kind of things?" she asked.  
  
"Well, the day that we asked the NYPD to pull officers for crowd control, we learned that Covic was indeed in the country and that the threat was indeed real and not just talk. If that information had been provided to you, Officer Boscorelli might have been prepared when he ran into Covic."  
  
"Why are you telling us this?" she asked.  
  
"Because I need for you to understand something. You can't think about Covic as your standard every day criminal. He's a professional. He is very good at his job and worse, he understands how the game works, how we work." He paused then ran his through his hair.  
  
"What are you trying to say?" Faith asked firmly.  
  
Wilkerson looked away from her briefly he let his eyes rest on the door for a second then he looked back at her.   
  
"I'm trying to tell you that you have to be prepared for this to go bad."  
  
Sully took a step closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She bit her lip, and silently repeated, 'you will not cry' over and over until she knew she was in control. Sully squeezed her shoulder as Wilkerson brought the phone his was still holding up and pressed a button.  
  
As Wilkerson put the phone to his head Faith could faintly hear her own phone in the apartment start to ring. She counted the rings silently and when they reached fourteen they stopped.   
  
"Hello?" Wilkerson said into the phone.  
  
Faith leaned forward to try and hear who was on the other end of the phone. Wilkerson put up his hand for a second then leaned toward her and pulled the phone from his ear so she would be able to hear.  
  
"Emily?"  
  
Faith's heart raced when she heard him. She strained to hear Emily's voice.  
  
"Yes," Emily said softly.  
  
Faith looked up and grinned at Wilkerson, who nodded at her. Faith felt Sully's fingers tighten their grip on her shoulder and she turned back and smiled at him. Her little girl was alive.  
  
"Emily, are you okay?"  
  
Faith heard Emily sniff and then she whispered. "He hit me."  
  
Faith felt like she had been hit in the stomach. Her child had been hurt and she couldn't do anything to help.  
  
"Emily, it's okay. My name is Kenny. Can you tell me who's inside with you right now?"   
  
There were some muffled voices in the background and then Emily sniffed again. Then with a trembling voice said, "He told me to answer the phone and tell you that if you come in the door the first person shot is going to be me."  
  
Faith tried to reach up and grab the phone from Wilkerson's hand. She had to speak to Emily, but he twisted his body away from her and shot a look at Sully. Sully reached up, put his other hand on her shoulder, and pulled her backward from Wilkerson.  
  
"Emily, you doing great okay? Can you give the phone to the man?"  
  
Faith was too far away now and couldn't hear Emily's voice any longer. Suddenly there were loud footsteps on the stairs behind her and Faith turned to see the agent that Wilkerson had sent downstairs to get the keys climbing the last step with a key ring and a long gym bag in his hand.  
  
"Snipers say they have a lock on the girl on the phone, she's in the clear standing next to the window they can't locate another target."  
  
"He's using her to block the sniper's shots?" Sully asked.  
  
The agent nodded his head and avoided Faith's eyes. "Look like it."  
  
Faith shook free of Sully's grasp and stepped back over to Wilkerson, he glanced at her then shook his head no. She didn't care, she needed to be close and right now that phone was the only link to her daughter.  
  
Before Faith had a chance to cover half the distance, a gunshot rang out from inside the apartment and Faith's heart stopped as she heard Emily's scream. 


	10. Part Ten

Part Ten

The loud pounding on the door broke the heavy silence in the room. Whoever was on the other side was becoming impatient and angry. Bosco forced everyone outside that room of his mind. The only thing that mattered now were the three people in this room.

Covic was waiting for some kind of answer to his insane question. Bosco's first impulse was to put on his best sneer and say something he was positive Faith would not like her daughter to hear. He had to force himself to bite back that remark knowing that even if it would have felt great to say it the man in front of him would have probably used it as a opportunity to hit him up side the head again. Or worse, take it out on Emily.

What did he want him to say? What kind of idiot says 'Yeah, I'm ready to die...bring it on'? Not him, that was for sure.

Did he just call himself an idiot? Bosco pushed that out of his mind when he heard Emily whimper quietly beside him. However the next few minutes played out, he promised himself that he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. If he was going to die here, he was at least going to take that lunatic down with him before he could do anything to hurt Emily. He owned that much to Faith, and he wasn't about to let her down.

"What do you want me to say?" He finally managed. He was startled by the harsh sound of his voice but grateful it sounded somewhat calmer than he felt.

Covic snorted from someplace in front of him and then said, "How about we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" Bosco asked cautiously.

"A very simple one. You know as well as I do that by now there are snipers outside and I'm sure the building outside and inside are overflowing with your own officers and the FBI. You also know that during a situation like this there are two things playing out right now. You got half of the guys out there trying to make sure they are the ones that are in charge of this operation, and the other half of the people out there are trying to make sure that they won't be in charge in case something goes wrong."

Bosco nodded his head knowing that there was probably a little truth in what he said. "You sure know a whole lot about the way we work."

"Of course I do. You and I are alike. Oh, don't shake your head, we both try to figure out how the other side thinks. And we both know that depending on what we come up with decides if we get to come home after it's all over."

"We are nothing alike. It's my job to keep people safe from scum like you," Bosco spat before he could stop himself.

Bosco heard Covic make a small sound that sounded like a chuckle, and then heard a soft tongue clicking noise. Bosco knew that his last words had not been terribly wise as Covic quickly and violently grabbed his chin and jerked it up. The sudden movement caused Bosco to throw his hand down beside him to catch himself from falling over. He felt his hand land on Emily's fingers and he could feel her trembling. He curled his fingers around her hand and squeezed.

"Patience, Officer Boscorelli, you really do need to learn patience." Covic squeezed his chin painfully then continued. "Our deal is simple enough: if you want this pretty little girl to make it out of here and be able to blow out the candles on her next birthday cake, you will do every thing I tell you, you got that? Everything."

Bosco jerked his head from Covic's grasp and asked, "How do I know you'll keep your end of the bargain?"

"You don't!" Covic snapped. "But you really don't have any other option, do you?"

Bosco heard Covic stand and take a step from him. Emily pulled on his hand and then he felt her pressing up against his side.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, he hit me. I tried to get outside like you said."

She was sniffing slightly. He could tell that she was trying to keep from crying. Bosco couldn't help but smile. Poor kid was probably scared out of her mind but she was trying to be brave. Bosco lifted his arm and draped it around her shoulder. Emily leaned against him as Bosco 'shushed' her and tried to calm her down. It helped to calm his own nerves as well.

Covic was walking around the room near them then he heard him grunt and the sound of something being pulled across the floor towards the kitchen. What was he up to?

"Em, what is he doing?" he whispered to her.

"He's moving Mr. Pearson," she said quietly.

Mr. Pearson, who? Oh yeah, the super.

"I think he's dead," she whispered then buried her face into his side.

Bosco brought his hand up from her shoulder and stroked her hair as he strained his ears to try and figure out what Covic was up to. Covic had returned from the kitchen and was now pacing behind them. Bosco forced himself to remember the layout of Faith's apartment from previous visits and from the ramblings of Emily the night before when she had tried to avoid her mother by giving him a tour.

Covic was moving to each window in the room, probably figuring out where all the sharpshooters where. Bosco had a passing thought that maybe one of them would get lucky and get a shot off but he knew that Covic wouldn't give them the chance. He was moving slowly around the room; he was searching for an escape. When Bosco heard the footsteps move down the hall he patted

Emily's head and leaned down so she could hear him whisper.

"Emily, I need for you to listen, okay?"

Bosco felt the girl's head move up and down but she didn't move from her place at his side.

"Whatever happens..." God what am I saying? Bosco shook his head then continued. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, you got that? Your Mom is right outside that door and everything is going to work out."

At the mention of Faith, Emily picked up her head and took a deep breath like she was about ready to scream for her. He patted her head a couple of times trying to keep her quiet.

"Hey, hey, listen. I need for you to do exactly what he tells you to do, okay?"

"But..."

"No, listen, Emily. Whatever he says you need to do it. Everything is going to be just fine if you do exactly what he says."

As he spoke to her, he was struggling to fight the horrible feeling that was working it way up from his gut. Along with the feeling he could hear a voice shouting 'Why are you lying to her?'

"Promise me?" he said just as he heard Covic step back into the room.

Emily didn't get the chance to answer him as Covic stepped quickly over to them and pulled her up and away from him.

"Okay, little one, any minute the officers outside are going to get their acts together and that infernal knocking from a little while ago will be replaced by a telephone call. Now your job is very easy. All you have to do is pick it up, but not until I tell you to, and then you're going to have a chat with whomever is on the phone. Are we clear?"

"Yes," Emily whispered she still sounded afraid. Bosco took a deep breath.

"Very good."

Bosco heard the two of them step away from him and head toward the other side of the room. They were now standing somewhere near one of the windows in the living room. Bosco shifted his feet until they were underneath him so he would be ready to push himself up. If Covic tried anything he had to at least try to stop him.

"Now I put the phone right here on this table. I want you to stand right here and do what I tell you to do. If you don't do what I tell you to do, guess what's going to happen?"

Bosco's heart began to race. Please don't ask her that, please don't let her think about that. She

shouldn't have to think about that.

Emily's voice quivered slightly as she said, "You're going to kill me".

Covic let out an evil bark of a laugh and then said, "No, I'm going to kill him."

"Covic, you asshole, don't do that to her!" Bosco shouted as he surged to his feet and staggered toward them.

He heard Emily call his name just as his knee connected with something solid and he fell forward. He barely had time to throw his hands up in front of his face before he hit the floor hard.

A shout escaped his throat as anger flooded through him. All the anger that the fear and the guilt had forced away days ago, it all of it came slamming back into him full force. Anger at this man that wanted to kill him. Anger at those hoodlums that had caused that explosion and his blindness and anger at himself for not being able to do anything now because of it.

Without thinking about what he was doing or why, Bosco put his hands to his face and began to claw at the bandages wrapped tightly around his head. He had to get them off; he frantically ripped them from his face, hoping that if he could get them off everything would be okay, knowing that it wouldn't change anything.

From what sounded like far away he heard Emily crying and calling his name. "Bosco, don't. Please stop! Please!"

Energy gone, he stopped pulling on the bandages, he shook them away and pulled the last strip away from his ear as he laid there on the floor and breathed deeply, trying to get control and force the stabs of frustration away.

"Bosco?" Emily whispered.

"It's okay, Em," he mumbled.

Then Emily was quiet and the only noise was the muffled voices of someone shouting out in the hall. Determination had replaced the anger; he wasn't going to let anyone take anything else from him, starting with the killer in that room.

Then a hand was on his arm and was pulling him to his feet. Bosco didn't bother to resist as Covic pulled him from the floor. He was propelled away from Emily to a place near the left of the door close to the kitchen. Covic yanked him to a stop and gripped him by the arm.

"All right, Officer, let's try this again," Covic said from his side. "When they call, she is going to answer the phone and tell them that she is just fine. Of course it might take a bit to calm her down. But then that's all the time I'm going to need."

"And what are we going to be doing while the Feds swallow her story?"

"There is only one FED outside that door that can identify me. We have somewhat of a history, sorry to say. So I know how this man thinks, he's reckless, a cowboy, he'll make sure he's the first person through that door. Once I take him out, I'll be able to slip out."

Bosco snorted. "What you think you're going to be able to play chameleon and escape in the rush?" "Your not as dumb as you look, Officer Boscorelli. Yes, that's the plan."

"Well, buddy you must be just plain dumb because there is no way that is going to work."

"We will see."

Bosco shook his head and tried to think of something he could do to make sure that his stupid plan really didn't work.

The sound of the phone ringing on the other side of the room started his heart racing. This was it.

Whatever was going to happen had begun. Bosco let out a slow breath as he listened to the phone ring another time.

"Wait; don't pick it up yet." Covic said as he pushed Bosco forward and jerked him to the right. Bosco could hear a new sound of the rustle of a nylon jacket. Where did that come from?

The phone rang again and again and Bosco had lost count when Covic said gruffly, "Answer it."

Covic leaned closer to him and then the cold pressure of a gun was at his temple. "Don't move"

Bosco heard a low click from the phone and then he heard her say, "Emily." There was a pause, she sniffed, and then she whispered. "He hit me."

The sound of her voice made his stomach turn; it made him feel sick. Covic shifted slightly beside him and pulled the gun away from his temple he felt the sleeve of Covic's jacket touch his face as he raised his arm and tightened his grip on Bosco's arm. He had to be pointing the gun at Emily now. Covic's plan suddenly became clear, there was no deal' Emily was a target and he was no more than a shield for this madman.

Oh, God they were both going to die. He had to do something. Just as the thoughts ran through his head he heard Emily say, "He has a gun pointed at me."

Do something, don't think, just move.

Bosco raised his foot and brought his heel down as hard as he could on the other man's foot. Covic stumbled forward surprised by the unexpected blow. As the grip on his arm loosened Bosco lunged sideways and grabbed the arm that held the gun trying to force him off balance.

They both stumbled backwards into the wall and then tumbled to the ground. With one hand on the gun trying to force it away from him Bosco used his other hand to push Covic's head into the wall as hard as he could.

Covic grunted then cursed as he tried to pull the gun back. The gun sounded like an explosion when it went off close to his head, he was sure felt the breeze and heard the soft whoosh as the bullet passed close to the side of his head. That was too close.

Emily's scream filled the room as he lashed out with his legs trying to connect with any of Covic's body parts. He heard pounding on the door and Emily screamed again.

Bosco clawed at Covic's face just as the gun went off again and he felt the heavy slam of a bullet.

Bosco gasped as Covic twisted his arm backwards and grunted. "You lose." The last thing he heard before he slid into the foggy darkness of unconsciousness was someone shouting Covic's name and then Emily screaming "Mommy!"

Wilkerson dropped the phone and turned to the door. Sully was behind Faith, his hand on her shoulder pulling her back. She tried to pull free but his hold was to tight. He heard him telling her to stay here.

"Let me go."

Faith watched one of the agents pulled a steel ram from the bag on the ground and pounded it into her door. Wilkerson grabbed the other side and both Agents threw themselves at the door. On the second blow the door flew back and Faith watched Wilkerson and two other agents rush into the room shouting Covic's name.

"Sully, please," she pleaded

"No, Faith, wait."

Sully's other hand came up and gripped her other shoulder as another shot came from her apartment and then the sound of Emily screaming 'Mommy' again followed by horrible silence.

Sully pulled Faith back into him trying to keep her from rushing into the room.

"Emily," Faith whispered as tears slid from her eyes down her cheeks.

She didn't want to look at the empty doorway but she couldn't force her eyes from it. Then Wilkerson appeared in the doorway with Emily wrapped in his arms. Sully let her go and she rushed toward them.

"Emily!" She reached them in a second and pulled her daughter from Wilkerson's arms. Faith collapsed into a heap on the floor with Emily in her lap squeezing her tightly. Faith kissed the top of her head and tried to calm Emily's sobs. "It's okay, honey. It's over it's over."

She kept repeating the words until she felt Emily stir in her arms and pull away from her. Her daughter's eyes were red and tears were still running down her face. There was also blood on the side of her head near her right temple.

"He shot Bosco; you have to help him."

Faith felt her heart constrict at the words. Bosco...how could she have forgotten about him? She

looked up suddenly at the door and felt Sully's hand settle again on her shoulder.

"I'll go, you stay here," he told her as he stepped around them and into her apartment.

Emily buried herself back into Faith's arms and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist. Faith laid her head down on the top of Emily's head and started to rock slowly back and forth as she watched the busted door in front of her for some sort of sign of her partner.

"Faith, hey, Faith."

Faith jumped slightly at the sound of her name and lifted her head to see Kim squatting down next to her.

"Let me have a look, okay?"

Faith nodded and pulled Emily from her so Kim could have a look. Just as Kim reached for Emily's forehead Doc and Carlos charged up the stairs following Davis into her apartment.

She reluctantly let Emily go so Kim could pull her into her lap and Alex started to examine her temple.

Faith watched for a few more moments then climbed to her feet and turned toward the door. She had to see him, she needed to know if he was dead.

"Mom!" Emily called.

Faith turned back and saw the scared look Emily was giving her. She bent back down quickly and cupped her daughter's cheek.

"I'm going to see Bosco, okay?"

Emily tried to smile as tears welled up in her eyes. She just nodded and then closed her eyes and leaned back into Kim's embrace.

Kim gave her a nod and mouthed 'it's okay' to her. Faith let out a slow breath and then stood again and moved to the door. "Please, please, please," she whispered softly to herself.

She stopped just inside the door. Wilkerson was back in the room standing with two other Agents near her couch. Faith could see a man not moving at their feet with a blue nylon FBI jacket on. She looked closer and realized he must have been Covic, there was a puddle of blood slowly forming around him. She looked from the dead man's face back up to Wilkerson.

He was looking at her. He looked relieved as he nodded to her. She gave him a weak smile and then turned from him to search for her partner.

Her eyes were drawn to the cluster of people in blue near her kitchen. Sully and Davis were standing over Doc and Carlos. Faith could see Bosco's legs stretched out on the other side of them. She was standing next to Sully before she realized that she had left the doorway. Sully put a hand on her back as she looked down at Bosco.

Bosco's eyes were closed and his face was covered with an oxygen mask. They had ripped open his shirt, and exposed his chest and stomach, which was overflowing with dark red blood. Carlos was connecting IV tubing to a needle taped to the back of Bosco's hand as Doc pressed a dressing to his stomach while listening to a stethoscope held to Bosco's chest.

She was relieved to see his chest rise and fall under the stethoscope then Doc looked up at her as he plucked the ends of the stethoscope from his ears. He gave her a big smile.

"Looks good, Faith, I think he's going to be okay."

Faith let out a breath she had been holding and sagged back into Sully. She heard Davis mummer 'All right, way to go'. Faith stood there until they rolled him onto a backboard and hefted him onto the stretcher. She moved out of their way and then followed them into the hallway where Alex and Kim were waiting for them with Emily.

"She's fine, Faith. The cut on her head is going to need some stitches but other than that she's fine." Kim said with a grin on her face as Doc and Carlos passed between them. Kim glanced down with a worried face to Bosco then back up silently questioning Faith.

"Doc says he's going to be fine," Faith answered her with a smile. When she neared Emily her daughter reached out for her. Faith glanced back at Kim who shrugged her shoulder.

"It's not too serious and she's alert and coherent so we can just have someone carry her down."

"I'll do it," Davis said from behind her. He bent down eye level with Emily and smiled at her. "Is that okay, kiddo? "

Emily smiled and nodded her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her up from the ground. He turned and started down the stairs with Kim close behind.

"Come on," Sully said as they headed down the stairs. When the got to the lobby Faith could hear Agnes in her apartment crying. Faith closed her eyes trying not to think how very close she had come to losing two very important people in her life today, too.

When they stepped out of the building and made their way down the steps the street before her was crazy. RMP's and unmarked police cars were parked every which way on the street with Ambulances, Fire Trucks and SWAT and ESU vans. Faith tried to push everything back and away as she followed Davis and Kim to the bus. Faith noticed crowds of people being moved as

Doc's bus tried to move through the maze to get Bosco to the hospital.

She was almost at the bus when she heard a familiar voice shouting at her. "Faith!"

Faith turned to look at the crowd of people lined up behind barricades at the other side of the street and recognized Fred trying to shove himself to the front of the crowd.

"Fred?"

"I'll get him," Sully told her then walked off toward the crowd. Sully made it to the line and pulled Fred and Charlie through. Fred said something to Sully as Charlie pulled away from him and took off toward her with Fred close behind. Faith bent down as Charlie neared her and flung himself at her. His arms went tightly around her and he squeezed. She tightened her arms around him and stood up as Fred nearly pushed her over as he grabbed both of them in his arms for a hug.

Faith stayed that way for what felt like forever, she just let herself enjoy the moment. It was over soon enough as Charlie squirmed from between them and Fred pulled away. Faith looked into his worried questioning eyes and tried to force the tears away that were forming in her eyes.

"Guys, you want to ride with us?"

Faith turned and saw Alex standing near the doors to the bus waiting to close the doors. Faith could see Kim and Emily already inside. Faith nodded her head and let Charlie slide to the ground. Fred took her and Charlie's hand and led them to the waiting bus. They climbed in and Alex slammed the door behind them.

Fred sat down on the stretcher beside Emily who climbed into his lap and buried her face into his

shirt. Kim pulled out a blanket and covered Emily and Fred with it then turned to Faith and Charlie who were huddled on the bench across from them.

"Faith, how you doing?"

Faith looked down at Charlie then over at Fred and Emily and nodded her head slowly.

"I'm fine, Kim, Thanks"

Kim patted her on the back and they all were silent for the rest of the short trip to the hospital.

After they arrived at the hospital, Kim and Alex took Emily into an examining room. Doc told them that Bosco had been taking straight up to surgery and again reassured her that he just knew Bosco was going to pull through. Davis and Sully suggested a raid on the candy machine to Charlie so Faith and Fred were now alone in the small waiting room.

The tension and worry of the last hour flooded through her and she sunk to the couch. Fred paced in front of her silently for a few seconds; she waited for his outburst. When the questions came they weren't how she expected them.

"What happened? What in the world happened?" he asked quietly.

Faith looked up at Fred who had stopped pacing in front of her. He was pale and he looked frightened he stood in front of her with his arms wrapped around his chest.

"The hitman from the other day, the one that shot that FBI Agent he took Emily and Bosco hostage," she answered him quietly. As she said it she leaned back into the couch and shut her eyes so she could avoid his eyes staring at her.

"I though Emily was at Mom's, what was she doing there?"

"She decided yesterday that she didn't want to go, so she was waiting for me when I brought Bosco home from the hospital."

"She was by herself?"

Faith sighed then opened her eyes to look at Fred who was now squatting in front of her.

"She was upset," Faith said simply. "I don't think she wanted to let me out of her sight this weekend, we had a nice long discussion about lying already."

Fred chewed on his lip as he reached out and took her hand. Faith's eyes went to their hands as she forced the rest of the story out.

"I got a call this morning from Sully to come down and question a dirtbag they pulled off the street who said he had seen the hitman. When I got down there it was this creep Bosco and I arrested several years ago, his brother was killed in the chase." Fred's grip tightened slightly as Faith concentrated on finishing the story.

"Well, he ID'd Covic after I got there. But it was all a plan to get me out of the house, Covic got Mr. Pearson to open our door and take Bosco and Emily hostage. By the time we got there it was locked up tight and we didn't now what was happening. I still don't know what happened in that room, only Emily and Bosco can tell us what happened."

Fred pulled his hands away and ran them over his face. Faith folded her hands into fists and then studied her knuckles. They both jumped when Kim leaned into the room and told them Emily was done and wanted them.

They jumped to there feet and rushed to the room Kim pointed at. Emily was curled up on a bed with a blanket pulled up to her chin. She had a white bandage covering the right side of her forehead. A nurse was standing by the bed stroking her head. Faith and Fred rushed to her and Emily smiled up at them.

"We gave her something to calm her down; she was a little upset with everything that had happened. It's better for her to get some rest right now; I'll be right outside if you need me."

Faith nodded as the nurse turned and left the room.

"Hey sweetie," she said as she sat down on the side of the bed.

Emily grabbed her hand tightly as tears begun to stream from her eyes. "I'm sorry, ...Mommy, I'm sorry," she sputtered.

Faith pulled Emily to her and kissed her head. "This isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong baby. You hear me?"

"He shot him because of me. He told me if I did anything wrong that he was going to kill him. It's all my fault, I didn't mean to do anything wrong, I'm sorry," Emily cried.

Her heart broke as she listened to Emily sob. She looked up at Fred's concerned face, then tightened her grip on Emily. She rocked her gently until she stopped crying and just laid in her arms.

Faith slowly pushed Emily away from her until she could see her face. Fred sat down on the other side of Emily and rubbed her back.

"I want you to listen to me okay, will you do that for me?"

Emily nodded but looked away from her. Faith reached out and gently pulled her chin back up so she was looking in her eyes.

"Mommy deals with horrible men like this everyday. They tell horrible lies. They blame everyone else for what they do. That man wanted to scare you, that's why he told you that." Emily's lip began to quiver and Faith ran a finger over her cheek. "Listen to me, Bosco's going to be fine. When he wakes up he's going to tell you just like I did that you didn't do anything wrong. No one blames you for anything that happened today, trust me, Sweetie."

Emily let out a quivering breath then blinked her eyes and finally nodded slowly.

"Okay."

Bosco drifted just on the edge of consciousness. He let the steady beep of the monitor almost pull him back into the warm comforting and probably more than likely drug induced nothingness. Then he felt a warm hand on his face and her soft voice pulling him back all the way. Bosco kept his eyes closed as a pain from his stomach reached him he grimaced and tried to force it away.

"Bos."

"Hey," he finally grunted as the pain eased and settled down to bearable. He opened his eyes and was startled at the blackness until he remembered that his eyes didn't work anymore. At least he was free of the horrible bandages, it wasn't much but it was something.

"It's about time," she said as she brushed the hair off his face.

"Give me a break, I'm in pain here," he said with a grin. Then the last few seconds from in the apartment came rushing back to him. Emily! He reached up, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it. "Emily. What happened? Is she okay?"

Faith's other hand covered his she pulled it toward her and rubbed it gently. "She's fine, Fred's with her. She got a cut on the head, that's it. She's going to be just fine."

He let out a heavy breath and closed his eyes. Then the other man in the room popped into this mind.

"Covic?"

"Dead."

Bosco nodded and muttered, "Good."

Faith squeezed his hand. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a few minutes then Faith cleared her throat.

"Emily told us what happened. She told us what you did." She stopped and he thought she might be finished then she cleared her throat and continued in a whisper. "She wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for you."

"Well, I guess it makes us even then," Bosco said quietly hoping that she wouldn't start to cry. He had cried enough for the both of them in the past two days and he didn't think he would be able to handle her tears anywhere near as well as she had his.

He felt the soft tips of her hair brush his face and then she kissed his cheek. "Not even close, partner." She ran the back of her hand over the place on his cheek she had just kissed then continued softly. "You saved my little girl's life." Her voice broke and she fell silent.

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "All in a days work, Ma'am." He tried to make his voice sound casual but he couldn't stop his voice from cracking on the last word just as hers had.

Faith laughed and then ran her hand over his face again. "What would I do without you?"

"Let's pray you never find out."

"Amen, Partner, amen."


	11. Part Eleven

Part Eleven--The Final Chapter   
Note: Thanks to Angie and Codes  
  
  
  
Faith groaned as she lifted her hand to her face to rub her itching nose. She yawned and tried to remember where she was. Oh yeah, sleeping in Emily's room.  
  
After her visit this morning with Bosco, she had stayed with him until a nurse had come in and giving him a shot of pain medication that had knocked him out in no time. When she got back to the room Fred told her that Christopher had come looking for her.   
  
She found Stick, Christopher, Wilkerson and a dozen or so other officials in the NYPD and FBI that she didn't recognize waiting for her in a private waiting room near the entrance to the ER.   
  
She gave everyone in the room the details of Emily's story. She refused the FBI's request to interview her daughter. She told them they could talk to Emily tomorrow with Fred and her in the room. They didn't look very happy about it but Stick and Christopher both stood behind her on it. Then Stick announced that he had already spoken to the Chief of Police and he would give them the same answer.   
  
After repeating the story a few more times, slower with details she wrote her report with Sully and then she returned to Emily's room. Emily was asleep and Fred told her that Davis had suggested that he go with him and Sully to go get clothes and stuff from the apartment. She told him that sounded like a good idea because they wouldn't be able to stay there tonight anyway. When he left he told her that he wouldn't be back for a couple of hours because he also wanted to go to his mom's house and fill her in and drop Charlie off with her to stay.  
  
After Fred and Charlie had left she sat by Emily's side, held her hand, and watched her sleep. The last thing that she remembered thinking about before she lowered her head to the bed beside Emily was the blood on her living room floor and wondered if she could get someone else to clean it up so she wouldn't have to see it again.  
  
She pushed all those thoughts out of her head, buried her head back down in the sheets, and lay there enjoying the quiet for a few more seconds. When the door opened she opened her eyes and sat up to see Fred standing in the door with a greasy bag in one hand and a paper cup in the other.   
  
"How it go?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.  
  
"Good, how'd it go here?"  
  
"Fine," she said.   
  
"Then where's Em?"  
  
"What?" Faith turned from him and looked down to the empty bed beside her. "She was here."  
  
She said as she pushed by him glancing in the empty bathroom and then to the door. She looked up and down the hall and was about to run to the nurse's station when the nurse from earlier looked up from the desk and held up her finger.   
  
The nurse stepped away from the desk and meet Faith halfway down the hall.  
  
"My daughter?" Faith said anxiously as soon as the woman came close enough to hear her.   
  
"It's okay, I know where she is, follow me"  
  
The woman turned and started down the hallway before Faith had a chance to say anything. Faith turned back to look at Fred who shrugged and made a 'follow her' gesture with his hands. They both followed the nurse down the hall and through a door that had a sign posted in the middle of the door that read "Authorized Hospital Staff Only.'  
  
When they were halfway down the hall, Faith figured out where they were heading. She could see a hospital security guard standing outside a door at the end of the hall and recognized him from this morning's visit to Bosco's room. The nurse stopped next to the guard, turned to them with a smile on her face and then pointed into the room.  
  
Faith turned to look through the glass window next to the door of Bosco's room. He was in his bed still asleep amid his beeping machines and tubes. Curled up on the bed beside him sound asleep was Emily. Faith looked back at the nurse and she motioned her back from the window.  
  
Faith and Fred followed her a couple of steps from the door where she explained their daughter's change of location.  
  
"She woke up about a hour ago and came out into the hallway. You were asleep and she said she didn't want to wake you up because you looked tired. I asked her if she was hungry or wanted anything and she said she wanted to see Bosco. I told her that he had been in surgery and was asleep now so he could get better. She seemed upset by that so I told her if she promised not to wake him up she could see him for a few minutes."  
  
"Well, right after we got down here there was a emergency in another room and I went to help out. By the time I got back she had crawled up in the bed and was asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake her she's been through so much. His doctor said it would be okay for a little while so I just left her here and came back to the desk hoping I would see you before you panicked too much. I hope you don't mind."  
  
Faith closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "No, It's fine."   
  
The nurse turned and headed back down the hallway.   
  
Fred frowned and then jerked his thumb toward the room. "You want to leave her in there?"  
  
Faith turned back toward the window and placed her hand on the glass. She watched her daughter and her partner sleep and knew that besides being with her or Fred, Emily was the next safest place. She turned her head and looked at Fred.  
  
"If she feels safe here, I don't think we should force her away. She just needed to know that he was okay, let her stay for a little while, we'll come back in a little while and take her back."  
  
Fred glanced behind her through the window and frowned. Faith was afraid that he was going to insist they get Emily out of there and take her back to her room. But he didn't, instead he just nodded his head and put out his hand for her to take. They turned and headed back down the hallway back toward Emily's room.  
  
When they got to the room, Agent Wilkerson was leaning against the wall next to the door. Fred looked at him then back at Faith. She inclined her head toward the room and murmured to him that it was okay. Fred nodded, squeezed her hand and opened the door. Faith couldn't help bite down a chuckle when she saw Fred giving Wilkerson a dirty look as he stepped into the room.   
  
Wilkerson tipped his head in the direction of the small lounge across the hall, turned, and walked  
toward it. Faith followed behind him, closed it, and then leaned on it. She watched the other man stand with his back to her for a few seconds then turn to look at her with a pained expression on his face.  
  
"I'm glad your daughter and partner made it out of there."  
  
Faith looked at him for a minute before she spoke and when she did she watched his face crumble at her words.  
  
"What the hell were you doing up there?"  
  
Wilkerson raised his hands, rubbed them over his face a couple of times, and sunk into a chair. He looked at his feet and began to speak in a husky whisper.  
  
"That kid killed the other day wasn't the first agent I lost to him. He killed my partner fourteen months ago in Prague. We were working in a multi-agency task force with the CIA and the British NCIS. Covic killed her for no reason, I've been looking for him ever since."   
  
He looked up at her when he said that as she saw the sadness and the anger on his face. She pushed herself away from the door, walked toward him, and sat down in the chair beside him.   
  
"I almost had him a couple of times, caught up with him in Venice and was able to put a few holes in him before he got away. I'm the only agent that had ever got a good look at him. Six months ago he succeeded with a hit against an Swiss banker and took out a couple of NCIS agents, I went after him but he got away again." He shook his head angrily and then continued. "After that incident the task force convinced my boss that it was time for me to come home, they said I wasn't able to be objective any longer. When I found out Covic was coming to New York  
I twisted arms and called in favors to be assigned to the protection force."  
  
Wilkerson leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Faith watched several emotions play across his face before he shut his eyes and finished his story.  
  
"I don't think I really cared about that Serbian I was there to protect. I was trying to get Covic. When that car exploded out front I really wasn't thinking about whether anyone was inside or not the only thing in my mind was that the cops and the fire trucks where going to scare him away and I was going to miss my chance to get him."  
  
Wilkerson opened his eyes and let his head fall to the right so he was looking at her. He tried to smile but failed. "Sullivan was right, you should have hit me harder."  
  
Faith bit her lip to stop the laugh. He smiled then let out a long breath and nodded to her slightly.  
  
"When I found out Andrews had been killed it really shook me. The kid was just a year on the job; he had a brand new girlfriend that he couldn't shut up about. We shut everything down and I had every cop Federal or local looking for him by name and a vague description and an order to contact me for a physical ID."  
  
"If you knew what he looked like why didn't you just..." Faith stopped the question when the answer jumped out at her. "You wanted to get him personally," she said softly.  
  
He nodded and then tipped his head forward so she couldn't see his face as he answered her. "Yes, I did. And it only cost the death of one little old man who loved the Yankees and the near death of a thirteen year old girl and a brave cop."  
  
Faith didn't know what to say so she just leaned back in her chair and rested her head against the wall as they both sat there in silence. She realized she couldn't blame him for anything that had happened. She probably would have tried to do the same thing if something like that had happened to Bosco and she had the chance to get the guy who did it. She also knew that Wilkerson would probably always blame himself for what happened to his young Agent and Mr. Pearson.   
  
"What happens to you now?" she asked as she studied the water stain on the ceiling. She heard him move in his seat then stand up. She pulled her head from the wall and looked up at him. He was looking down at her and fingering his crooked tie.  
  
"I'm going to get out of the killing business. Think I'll go back to my home town and see what I can do to help people there, maybe coach a little league team, who knows."  
  
She smiled. "Sounds good."   
  
He gave her a genuine smile then held out his hand to her. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Officer Yokas."  
  
Faith shook his hand and he turned and walked out of the room. Faith watched him leave and let out a sigh as she tried to force the mixed emotions out of her head. She forced the anger from her mind, telling herself that she didn't want to think about what almost happened. Her family had survived today, all of it, and that's the only thing that really mattered.  
  
************************************************************  
  
An ache in his stomach and the heaviness of his chest brought him back from his blissful sleep. He groaned and tried to remember exactly where he had been shot and how bad, he didn't remember it being so hard to breathe when he was awake earlier. Then suddenly the heaviness in his chest disappeared and he heard a soft whisper.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Emily, is that you?" He opened his eyes and searched the blackness for her. He could feel her lying in the bed beside him.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked a little confused. Was Faith here? He couldn't hear anyone else in the room and if she were there she would have said something by now.  
  
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she answered softly.  
  
"I'm going to be fine. You know me a little bullet couldn't stop me," he said to her lightly.  
  
When she didn't answer him, he brought his hand up to her face and touched her cheek, he could tell she was crying. Please don't. I don't know what to say to her he thought.  
  
"Hey, hey what's the matter?"   
  
"It's all my fault," she whispered.  
  
What? Her fault? What was she talking about?  
  
"Nothing was your Fault, Emily," he told her.  
  
"It was," she started to cry as she sputtered out the rest of her words. "I told the man on the phone he had a gun...he told me not to say anything but I did...I told him and he shot you...It's all my fault."  
  
Emily buried her head in his shoulder and cried. Bosco brought his hand up to her head ran his fingers through her hair, and waited until she was finished and laid there sniffling.  
  
"Let me tell you something, will you listen to what I tell you?"  
  
Emily nodded her head.  
  
"That wasn't your fault." Emily started to shake her head. "Hey, you said you were going to listen to me, now listen. You were very brave in there; you did exactly what you should have done. You were scared, weren't you?"  
  
Bosco smiled when he felt Emily's head bob up and down next to him.  
  
"I want to tell you a secret, you can't tell anyone else not even your mom, okay?"  
  
"I promise," Emily whispered.  
  
"I was scared, too."  
  
"You were?"  
  
"Yes, I also know that nothing that happened was my fault or yours. Do you believe me?"  
  
Bosco held his breath while Emily was silent then he broke into a grin when he heard her say.  
  
"Yes, but I'm sorry."  
  
"It's okay Em, everything is going to be fine now." Bosco brought his hand up, pulled her back down into his side, and held her there for a few more minutes. While he took a deep breath and thanked god he had come up with the right words.  
  
A few minutes past before Emily moved beside him. She moved from the bed and he heard her say 'mom' as she ran across the room  
  
"Faith."   
  
"Yeah, come to see were my munchkin went to," Faith said after a grunt.  
  
"I didn't want to wake you up earlier."   
  
"That's okay, why don't you go back to your room. Daddy brought you McDonalds."  
  
"All right" she squealed, then turned and waved at Bosco. "Bye, Bosco."  
  
"Bye, Em."   
  
"She waved."  
  
"I guess she forgot about my eyes," he said with a shrug. Bosco wished he could forget so easily. Then another question occurred to him. "So how does the face look."  
  
Faith stepped closer to the bed and studied the red skin slashing down the side of his face. "Well, it's red and there are some blisters but the Doctor did say they would go away. But overall you're looking pretty good."  
  
"I guess I'm back to my handsome self without those bandages huh?"  
  
"Handsome? I really wouldn't say handsome, I would say somewhat..."  
  
Bosco could sense the smile on her face. "Okay, do I have to remind you that I'm still in pain here and there's a rule that you are suppose to humor your partner when he in is pain?"   
  
Faith laughed. "What rule is that? I've never heard of such a stupid rule, and besides if there is such a rule you seem to break it every month when I get my period."  
  
"Faith..." He whined she knew how much he hated to hear her even mention the P word.   
  
Bosco listened to her laugh and couldn't stop himself from joining in although each laugh caused a jolt of pain to stab through his body.  
  
"Stop laughing...oh God stop...that hurts," he was barely able to choke out.   
  
He felt Faith's hands on his forehead as he gritted his teeth and settled back into his pillow forcing himself to relax the muscles in his stomach. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths then just laid there enjoying the soft strokes of Faith's hand on his forehead.  
  
"Ah hum. Am I interrupting anything?" Came a voice from the door.  
  
The sudden voice made both Bosco and Faith jump. Faith removed her hand and took a step back from the bed. Bosco recognized the voice of Doctor Zimmerman.  
  
"Of course not, Doctor. Bosco just found out that laughing and an injured stomach don't mix well."  
  
"I could have told you that son, no need trying to experiment on your own. And another thing, I really don't enjoy admitting the same patient twice in one week."  
  
"You mean I don't get a frequent patient discount?" Bosco said and grinned when he heard Faith snort.  
  
"I'll see what I can do," Zimmerman said. But he said it so evenly Bosco couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "But in the mean time I'm going to give your injuries a once over."  
  
Faith patted his head and said. "I'll just wait outside, okay, Bosco?"  
  
Bosco reached up and grabbed her wrist. "No!" He realized he said it a little too loud and lowered his voice a little and continued. "Stay, okay?"  
  
There were a few seconds of silence and Bosco figured she had turned and looked at Zimmerman.  
  
"That would by fine with me, Officer Yokas," Zimmerman said.  
  
Bosco released Faith's hand and dropped his own hand to his side.   
  
"I'm going to raise the head up a little bit, tell me if it puts any pressure on your stomach wound."  
  
Bosco nodded, the head raised up from the floor a little bit then he felt his head tilt up slightly. The minute Bosco grimaced Zimmerman stopped the bed.  
  
"Too far?"  
  
"No, it's fine."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah, Doc, just get on with it," he said a little impatiently.  
  
Zimmerman took a breath then Bosco he could feel the older man's finger's running over the edges of his healing burns. "These look excellent, you may not have to worry about long-term scaring. There are a few over here near the temple they may need some grafts but it looks pretty good."  
  
Zimmerman moved his hands to his eyes and Bosco felt his right eyelid pulled back gingerly. Then his left lid was gently pealed back.  
  
"Hmmm, yes they look fine."   
  
Fine? That's it, fine. Is fine good? Bosco wondered.  
  
"Is that good or bad?" Faith asked.  
  
"I would say good, at least I don't see any further damage. Let me try something." Bosco heard Zimmerman searching through pockets then a grunt followed by the click of the overhead light.  
  
"Now, just relax, Officer Boscorelli."  
  
Zimmerman pulled his right upper lid back then let it go. He then felt the lower lid pulled down. "Okay, let's have a look at the other eye."  
  
Zimmerman did the same with his left eye but just before Zimmerman let go of his upper lid a sharp pain jolted through Bosco's eye. He pulled slightly away from the doctor's touch.  
  
"Bosco? You okay?" Faith asked with concern in her voice.  
  
Bosco took a breath and then nodded.   
  
Zimmerman chuckled. "I think the young man is just sick of people poking at him, I'm almost done just let me see..."  
  
Zimmerman gently pulled down the bottom lid and the pain shot through the eye again.  
  
Bosco couldn't stop the involuntary jump as "What the hell was that?" escaped his lips.  
  
Faith's hand settled on his shoulder. "It was just a light, Bosco"  
  
Zimmerman pulled his lid down again and the same pain shot through his eye and he brought his hand to his eye to protect it from Zimmerman.   
  
"Stop doing that."   
  
"This is wonderful."  
  
"How can pain shooting through my skull me good?" Bosco grumbled as he pushed Zimmerman's hand from his face fearing the man was about to do it again.  
  
"Don't you see, Officer Boscorelli, your eye is reacting. It may be reacting painfully for you but  
it's reacting that's what is important."  
  
"Oh, Bosco," Faith whispered and tightened her hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Wait a minute, Doc. Are you..." Can this be true? "I'm not blind anymore?"  
  
Zimmerman chuckled. "Just slow down there, I said there was a reaction. As I doctor all I can say is that this is a very good sign. Personally I say you'll be back looking at the young ladies in no time."  
  
"Yes!" Faith shouted and then grabbed him in a tight hug. He squeezed her back ignoring the protest his stomach muscles were making. Faith let him go and ruffled his hair.  
  
"Oh boy, that's great" was all he could say. It sounded pretty pathetic even to his ears but he just  
couldn't put the joy of knowing that he wasn't going to have to leave the rest of his life alone in the dark into words.  
  
"I'm going to go right now and track down Dr. Foster and have him take another look, so don't go anywhere."  
  
Bosco laughed. "Don't worry I don't think I could if I wanted to."  
  
"I'll be back shortly."  
  
As soon as Zimmerman left Faith hugged him again. "I knew everything was going to be okay, I just knew it."  
  
Bosco twisted his face and said softly. "I think you were the only one."  
  
"No, not the only one, there's someone here to see you."  
  
Bosco pulled away from Faith and cocked his head toward the door. "Who?"  
  
"You seem to be in a better mood today. I didn't realize getting shot was such a good thing."  
  
Bosco sighed then smiled. "Hey, Kristen."  
  
"Hey, yourself." She paused then, "Hello, Faith. I hope your daughter is okay?"  
  
"Fine, she's a little frightened but she wasn't hurt bad. Ugh, if you don't mind me asking, how did you find out about all this?"  
  
"Well, I was over my mom's house and she ran to the store so I decided to see what was on the tube. I don't know if I like the fact that for the second time in a week I turned the news on and saw your handsome mug on it."  
  
Bosco puffed out his chest and grinned. "See, she thinks I'm handsome"  
  
Faith hit him lightly on the head. "Yeah, yeah maybe we should get her eyes checked too."  
  
"So what's everyone so happy about?" she asked as she walked across the room toward him.  
  
"The light, it hurt my eyes," Bosco said with a grin.  
  
"And this is good?" Kristen said sounding a little confused.  
  
"Doc says my eyesight is coming back. Didn't he, Faith?"  
  
"Well, he did say not to get your hopes up."  
  
Bosco grunted and waved a hand in her direction. "I'm sure."   
  
"That's great," Kristen said from beside him. He felt her hand touch his shoulder and suddenly felt guilty about how he had treated her the last time she came to visit.  
  
"Hey, Kristen about the other day..."   
  
He didn't get to finish because his words were cut off when he felt her soft lips pressing against his. He lifted his arm and caught her hair in his hand. Then he tightened the grip on the back of her head and pulled her into him slightly.  
  
From somewhere in the distance he heard Faith clear her throat and Kristen pulled away from him   
  
"No, no don't stop," Faith giggled as she walked toward the door. "I'll go check on Em, you two be good."  
  
Bosco heard the door shut. He reached up and grabbed Kristen's hand and pulled it down to is chest. He cleared his throat and felt Kristen squeeze his hand.   
  
"I shouldn't have treated you the way I did last time you were here. I wanted you to stay but I don't know I was confused and upset and was a jerk. I'm not all that smart sometimes...uh what I meant was..."  
  
Kristen pressed a hand to his cheek. "It's okay, Bosco, you don't have to say it."  
  
"Yes, I do." He took a deep breath and squeezed her hand again. He knew he had to say the actual words to her. It wasn't fair to her to leave it half said, and after everything he had been through he needed to tell her. "Kristen, I'm sorry, I don't have an excuse. I wasn't really thinking that clearly but I know I upset you and I'm really sorry about that."  
  
"I'm fine, Bosco, you had every right to be upset. I think you should give yourself a break. I'm not angry at you and I told you I wasn't going to let you scare me off."  
  
He gave her a huge grin then said. "Why in the world would I want to scare you off?"  
  
She let go of his hand and slid her hand up his chest until she reached his chin, which she rubbed with her thumb as she bent forward over him.  
  
"You're not that smart all the time remember? But don't worry, I'll help you if you want me to."  
  
Kristen lip's pressed firmly against his. He smiled as she deepened the kiss. He briefly thought about someone interrupting them but thought if Kristen didn't seem to care why should he? So he did the only thing left for him to do, he relaxed back in the pillow and let her do what ever she pleased.  
  
**************************************************  
  
Faith leaned against the wall in the hallway and tried to wipe the smile off her face. She was having a difficult time doing that in her current position as guard dog. When she left Bosco's room a few minutes before she had really intended to head straight to Emily's room and check for left over chicken Mcnuggets.   
  
Then she noticed the smiles and the faces of the nurses as they walked by and Faith turned to see  
Kristen and Bosco making out like eighteen-year-olds through the glass window in the wall of Bosco's room.   
  
She groaned and turned from the scene at the same time, trying to block as much of the window as she could from the people walking by.   
  
What was he thinking? Apparently not much she told herself. She was still grumbling to herself and trying to fend off anyone in hospital scrubs when Sully appeared next to her. She sighed as she looked at the smile on his face and then buried her face in her hands when he started to laugh.  
  
"Guess he's feeling better, huh?"  
  
She shook her head and refused to look at him, mentally calling Bosco every name she could think of.  
  
"Do you think if I went out and got myself shot I could get a woman to do that to me too?"  
  
Faith dropped her hands, looked at Sully's beaming face, and couldn't help herself as she started to laugh. All the tension, anger and sadness of the last few days began to melt away as she turned and stood with Sully and watched Kristen and Bosco.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
By the time the orderly had come to get Bosco to take him to see Doctor Foster, Faith had filled Sully in on the good news. As Bosco was wheeled around the corner Kristen had noticed the window and looked horrified. Faith couldn't help but feel sorry for her and assured her that no one even noticed.  
  
Kristen had smiled at her and told her thank-you for not noticing anything. Faith grinned back. Then Kristen told Faith to tell Bosco that she would come back tomorrow. Sully asked what time tomorrow and Faith elbowed him as Kristen turned and hurried down the hall.  
  
Sully and Faith had both gone back to Emily's room to find Emily and Fred sound asleep and all the Mcnuggets gone so they headed for the cafeteria and ate dinner. Sully filled her in on all the House gossip and then they wandered back up to Bosco's room.  
  
Bosco wasn't in his room but the nurse said that he was on his way back. So Faith took a seat on the bed and Sully pulled up a chair. Faith turned to look at him and he jerked his shoulders up.  
  
"What?"  
  
Faith chewed for a second on her lip then said. "I was just wondering why you're not home with Tatiana."  
  
Sully shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I thought you might need a friend."  
  
She smiled at him. He had been worried about her and about Bosco so he had come to see for himself how they were doing.  
  
"You're a good man, John Sullivan."  
  
Sully blushed and looked away from her. "Just don't let that get around okay?"  
  
"Your secret's safe with me."  
  
"What secret?" Bosco said as he was rolled in the door by a skinny orderly.  
  
Faith and Sully turned to look at Bosco reclining in what was basically a lounge chair with wheels. On his face were square-framed dark glasses and a huge grin.  
  
Faith ignored the question, hopped of the bed, and stepped closer to him.  
  
"What did Doctor Foster say?"  
  
"Well, he said a lot of things, Faith, you really can't expect me to remember them all."  
  
"Bosco."  
  
Bosco laughed and Faith resisted the urge to throttle him.  
  
"He said that my corneas were..." He started to speak then shook his head. "Bottom line he said that my eyes look like they are starting the healing process and that is why they are so sensitive to the light. He thinks it might take a little while but eventually I'm going to be good as new."  
  
Faith couldn't stop the tears that began to flow down her face as she threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. She held him tightly until she felt him shift and heard a little grunt. She backed away from him and saw his face was tight then she remembered his gunshot wound.  
  
"I'm sorry, Bosco, I didn't mean to hurt you."  
  
He waved her away. "It's okay, it's not that bad."  
  
Faith stepped aside so the orderly could push Bosco up to his bed and waited for him to help him in the bed. When he stepped away Faith pulled the covers up and untangled the IV from the side of the bed.   
  
Sully came up, grabbed Bosco's hand, and gave it several shakes.  
  
"I'm happy for you, Bosco."  
  
Bosco looked surprised and it took him a minute to say, "Thanks."  
  
Sully waved to Faith and then turned and headed toward the door. When he made it to the door he turned back and said. "Oh, I'll bring Davis by tomorrow if that's okay."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Bye then. Oh, I'll go find a nurse and tell her you're in pain"  
  
"That's not..." But Sully was gone before he could get it out.  
  
"How you feeling really?" Faith asked.  
  
Bosco turned his head on the pillow and smiled. "My stomach is killing me."  
  
"Let me go get the nurse then."  
  
"No, wait. Sully said he would do it." He was quiet for a minute. Then he said, "I don't want you to go."  
  
Faith reached up, brushed the hair from his forehead, and smiled.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"I can't help thinking about all that's happened the past couple of days."  
  
"Seems like longer, doesn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, it does."  
  
Bosco was quiet for so long Faith thought he had fallen a sleep then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  
  
"If I hadn't had you through all this I would have probably ended up a basket case in a rubber room somewhere."  
  
Faith chuckled. "You weren't that bad Bosco."  
  
"I love you, Faith, you're the best friend I have ever had."  
  
Faith blinked the tears away from her eyes and then bent down and kissed his forehead.  
  
"I love you too, Bosco."  
  
************************  
  
The End  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone that hung in there until the end. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I ended it here because I thought it was the perfect ending sentiment and if I wrote anything after it would have just weakened their exchange. I didn't actually give him his sight back by the end of the story but it is on it's way, I didn't want to wave a magic wand and *poof * he is able to see again. But this way you know it's coming back and everyone should be happy without asking for a sequel of any kind. Sorry no sequel because I'm already writing something else.   
  
Thanks again for everyone's kind words and the wonderful comments. 


End file.
